I'm easily entertained by the mallards.
Today I saw two males trying to hold a female under water - then a third male came in to help.
She eventually got away. I don't know why they do that. At first I thought it was a mating ritual but now I don't think so.
In some pics if u look close you can see her head barely out of the water. I don't know what happens that makes them attack her like this.
I've seen it happen several times before this.
They have her almost all the way under the water.
and one of them is biting her neck. Maybe it is a mating thing.
8 comments:
It's probably a mating thing...but it seems a little rough to gang up on her like that! Maybe she has rejected them all at one time or another and they decided to attack her? ;)
that could be, lol.
Sandy it is a mating thing and its "forced copulation". Sometimes large numbers of males gang up on a female and it can sometimes result in the female being drowned.
thanks Dave - I thought it might be - i looked it up yesterday and found that they pair up in the fall but mate in the winter. Didn't know though there would be more than or that they might drown the female.
Wow! Gorgeous, stunning pictures Sandy! You are a great photographer!
Hope you have a lovely weekend! :)
thanks sonia. Hope u have a lovely weekend too. I'm going to look for Gran Torino on line - u inspired me to watch it again.
Mating.. the ugly side of mallard drakes. A female shows her acceptance of her mate and wanting to mate by making herself go flat. The male holds her by the head feathers and mates. Mallard pair up in the fall. In the spring there are always more males than females and there are forced copulations even if she doesn't want it. If more than one jumps on her she can drown and we have had that here. Her mate should protect her, but he can't against many other males. The reason there are more females is that sitting a nest makes her more vulnerable to being predated. The male loses interest after she starts sitting her nest and she is on her own. Also raising ducklings to flight takes 6-8 weeks on top of the month on the eggs and all that time she is very vulnerable to attack..
thanks for that added info - very interesting!
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