So we have this fountain in the middle of our campus. Every year a hand full of ducks stop in to say hello. Sometimes they are wood ducks, sometimes mallards. Usually one of the mallards stays and decided to have her clutch next to the fountain. Over the last few months I have seen these animals go from small chicks to full blown ducks. A couple weeks ago the mom took off and just the three duckling have been swimming around the fountain. So I started to wonder, How do ducks learn how to fly?
Your normal bird begins in a tree. It either is coaxed out of the nest by its mother, or takes the jump on its own and sees what its wings can do. It either flys or dies. A duck, on the other hand, begins on the ground. Apparently the parent doesn't stick around for any lessons. So how does she learn how to fly? Its getting colder, and the young ducks are just swimming around the concrete lake oblivious to what's coming. Every time I walk by I try to imagine what is going to happen. Is a flock going to fly above them and give them a couple of quacks to let them know they should give it a try? Does someone need to scare the crap out of them to get them to try out their wings? Are they just ingrained with the knowledge that they are flyers? I'm not sure.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Ducks
Posted by Ted Torreson at 4:43 PM
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7 comments:
Is the fountian properly equiped for children?
aflac
I think you should skip your regualr classes and begin an in-depth study of this...I expect the answer by Christmas.
No, no, it has not been baby proofed. It drives me crazy. People allow their little kids to run to the other side of the fountin. They then climb on the ledge and peer into the water almost falling in. Just wait, I 'll be on the national news some day for saving some little kids life, just because no one else seems to be watching them.
And yes, I was thinking about building a blind of some sort from which I can record the miricle of first flight. If you don't get the information by christmas, At least I'll have a good blog post about stupid ducks that get frozen to death because they won't learn how to fly.
aflac
So I walked by the fountain last night and one of the ducks were gone. Two remain! My window is closing.
Today, I did see one duck take a wing assisted jump out of the fountain, turn around, and then jump in the air while flapping her wings and landing on her sister. (Seester) It was great, it looked like a wrestling move. Maybe this is how it starts!
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