Tinker Duck

[Richard]

sort of a play on "tinkerbell"...

we had 2 ducks waddling around the yard like they owned the place... just standing there making their squawlking sound...

I shooed them down toward the dock... I turned around and they turned around & came back.

Sister in law tried to chase them out of yard so dogs would not maul them... they just fluttered around (and did not fly away).

Later on, 1 of the dogs really tackled one of the ducks not once, but twice...so the ducks know the dogs have an eye on them.

next, we captured the ducks, and physically put them into the lake.. they kinda waddled around a bit.... then, like a lightbulb going off inside their head, they stared swimming around. (this was all 1 week ago)

In the week since, they have not left the dock area, they do not fly and rarely swim... just walk back & forth side by side. It DOES look rather cute, but at same time, looks like they are just "dumb" and clueless as to what they need to do.

The wifey has since started delivering bread to them, tossing out car window... NOW when ever a car drives to dock, no matter where ducks are, they will run/swim to the car and waddle around evidently, expecting some form of food handout.

now, the wifey is afraid some hunter might shoot them, I said probably /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif, she asked if we ought to put a bell around their neck (so the hunter will hear the duck better? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

So the upshot is...

First: WHY are the ducks seemingly unable to fly? they "appear" to be fully grown but if are NOT fully grown, are definately not chicks.

Second: Why are they acting like our yard, and now dock area are the only place in the world they can travel to? They absolutely refuse to leave.

Third: how silly is it for the wifey to put a bell or ribbon around the ducks neck? (I told her to ask the wildlife officer and he'd probably make it abundently clear that she ought NOT do that)

Any comments appreciated

Richard

 

[BWa]

Are they wild ducks or some one's domestic ducks that have found your yard and dock a great place to call home ? There is a domestic breed type of mallard if they are a typical brown duck , if they are all white , then they are for sure Domestic , Non-flying ducks .

Bill G

 

[Bird]

Richard, a couple of days ago there was a somewhat amusing article in The Dallas Morning News about one Dallas suburb (Duncanville) giving some ducks to another suburb (Lancaster) to put in a pond in a park. They supposedly had a combination of domestic, wild, and cross breeds, mentioned Duncanville having too many ducks, having to drain a pond to clean it out, etc., but there was also mention of the ducks not being able to fly as a result of people feeding them; unnatural diet and too fat to fly? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I don't know if that was factual knowledge or someone's speculation. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Richard]

As far as we know, they are wild. One is white, or "cream" colored, the other one is dark with a very pretty blue band across it's back/shoulders (do ducks have shoulders /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif )

I'd hate to think along with the dogs, cats that people leave at end of road...that someone left ducks?
/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif