Duck Videos Thread!

[Julie Birb]

I love the blue eyes, too. When they hatch, they are really dark blue, almost navy blue. As the ducks mature, the color gradually lightens to a really pretty pale blue. Several of the darker-colored ducks were also born with dark blue eyes, but as they matured it changed to brown. Most of my current ducks have brownish/golden/reddish eyes.

I love to look out the window and see my flock joyfully dancing in the grass or swimming in their tub. It makes me so happy. Last night it was really sweet when Sweet Pea (the girl in my avatar) sat on my lap and chewed on my finger like a little baby. She twisted and chomped on it so much that it was soon sore. I wish I could have filmed that.

Here's some shots of seven ducklings: (the four smaller ones are a week younger; the mother, Lilac, adopted them because their mother Kiwi died)

After this, I have a video of ducks “drilling” in mud, the complete diving video without parts chopped out, ducks drinking and drinking and drinking (or actually, filtering the water through their mouth), and one more duckling video.

I wonder what causes the iris to change color as the birds mature. Very interesting. Is it sun exposure? Or just a factor of maturation? I just know I have never seen a blue eyed duck before.

I am sorry to hear Kiwi died. I don't wanna know how it happened. But it is so sweet how Lilac took them on as her own and how they follow her and all gang snuggle with her. Are Muscovies the main tail wagger ducks? I've seen other duck/mallard videos before but they didn't wag like these do. It is sooo cute. @Miss Lydia has posted a few vids with her Opie and he wags all the time. Lilac and some of the kiddos were doing it quite a bit. It seems like they are happy and excited.

I would love to see those next videos you have. The mud one would be awesome.

 

[quackingdom]

I think the eyes changing is just something that happens as they mature. It changes around the same time they develop their caruncles. I wish I still had the blue-eyed ducks. I had a couple ducks whose eyes changed to brown instead of blue, and while it was changing, their eyes were two-colored. It looked strange.
This pic shows the blue eyes:



This one shows one of our ducks whose eyes were changing to brown:


I've never heard of any other ducks but Muscovies wagging their tails. It's cute though.

 

[quackingdom]

The video with the mud drilling is next in line. ;-) This one is their "drinking" behavior. It's not actually drinking, because they're not swallowing. I think they are washing the water through their mouth and filtering it out. I'm not sure why. Are they washing their mouth, like brushing teeth? Are they filtering the water to get some sort of microscopic creatures? They do it all the time.

After the filtering/drinking/mouth-washing, you can see some young ducks playing with the water falling from their overflowing tub.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I think the eyes changing is just something that happens as they mature. It changes around the same time they develop their caruncles. I wish I still had the blue-eyed ducks. I had a couple ducks whose eyes changed to brown instead of blue, and while it was changing, their eyes were two-colored. It looked strange.
This pic shows the blue eyes:



This one shows one of our ducks whose eyes were changing to brown:


I've never heard of any other ducks but Muscovies wagging their tails. It's cute though.

My Mallard derivative ducks wag their tails the same way Muscovies do, but they do it either after they get out of the water or just to fluff up randomly (like ducky yoga). But they don't do it non-stop the way Muscovies do. 6-10 wags is about the limit - not 10 minutes

 

[Julie Birb]

My Mallard derivative ducks wag their tails the same way Muscovies do, but they do it either after they get out of the water or just to fluff up randomly (like ducky yoga). But they don't do it non-stop the way Muscovies do. 6-10 wags is about the limit - not 10 minutes

GAWD you are so funny Tony.

 

[Julie Birb]

I think the eyes changing is just something that happens as they mature. It changes around the same time they develop their caruncles. I wish I still had the blue-eyed ducks. I had a couple ducks whose eyes changed to brown instead of blue, and while it was changing, their eyes were two-colored. It looked strange.
This pic shows the blue eyes:



This one shows one of our ducks whose eyes were changing to brown:


I've never heard of any other ducks but Muscovies wagging their tails. It's cute though.

Beautiful blue eyed bird. Wow, love her eyes. Or is the duck a boy? I think I know that male Muscovies have a bigger or fuller face covering and the females are more like the cutie whose eyes in this photo seem to have a greenish tinge to them.

 

[Julie Birb]

The video with the mud drilling is next in line. ;-) This one is their "drinking" behavior. It's not actually drinking, because they're not swallowing. I think they are washing the water through their mouth and filtering it out. I'm not sure why. Are they washing their mouth, like brushing teeth? Are they filtering the water to get some sort of microscopic creatures? They do it all the time.

After the filtering/drinking/mouth-washing, you can see some young ducks playing with the water falling from their overflowing tub.

That is a good question. You are right and I totally can see that they aren't swallowing it. It is such interesting behavior cuz all the adults are doing it. It is a super fast motion so it must be a cleansing thing I think. The littles getting the waterfall water are so cute and it is sweet seeing them on their tippy webs trying to get their little heads into the pool itself.

With regard to tail wagging it appears the Muscovies are the ones that do it for a sustained period of time. And it is so cute.

Looking forward to the mud video when it loads!!

 

[AimToMisbehave]

The video with the mud drilling is next in line. ;-) This one is their "drinking" behavior. It's not actually drinking, because they're not swallowing. I think they are washing the water through their mouth and filtering it out. I'm not sure why. Are they washing their mouth, like brushing teeth? Are they filtering the water to get some sort of microscopic creatures? They do it all the time.

After the filtering/drinking/mouth-washing, you can see some young ducks playing with the water falling from their overflowing tub.

Haha, I love the beginning when it's all zoomed in... their super quick, twitchy head and neck movements make it look like the video is sped way up!

 

[Julie Birb]

Haha, I love the beginning when it's all zoomed in... their super quick, twitchy head and neck movements make it look like the video is sped way up!

That is so true. I watched it again and it looks perfectly sped up without any real time pauses in between.

 

[quackingdom]

In the images – the first is a mature female, the second is a juvenile male whose eyes are changing color.

No, it's not sped up! We did change it, though. Originally, the clip was only I think 16 seconds long, and each duck only had their head in the water a couple seconds. So you could watch it a little longer, we reversed and replayed several parts.

Sometime soon, I'll probably make a “general Muscovy behavior” video with little snaps of everything, and that will probably include the original clip.

This one is the mud probing: