Lone Female Duck

[denaker]

I live in Anderson, IN. I have a lone female mallard in my lake. I was worried about her being all alone, but then she started hanging out with the geese. The geese don't seem to mind too much. She looks small so I don't think she's very old. I know she was not born here so she either walked or flew in. However, I have never seen her even try to fly.

For a while there were two ducks in my lake and they visited every day. The first time I saw the lone duck she was trying to make friends with the couple. They would not have anything to do with her. Then they took off and she's been in my lake alone ever since (about 2 months).

Do you think she will be ok?

 

[sourland]

She'll be fine. Eventually she will start flying and locate a flock of mallards that she can join.

 

[hfchristy]

Does she look like the other ducks that pass through?
My only concern would be if she was someone's pet and instead of finding a new home for their duck they just saw a pond and dumped her. Wondering if the lack of flying is because they clipped her wings.

 

[denaker]

She does look like the other mallards. The local park down the street gets a lot of drop-offs from people who buy them then set them free (cruel). She's all alone now. The Geese took off over the weekend and have not seen them since. Do you think putting a decoy in the lake would help attract more ducks? I share the lake with a neighbor. He put a big floating pegasus in the lake, I think to deter geese. I don't think it bothered them though. In fact, I thought I heard them snigger as they swam past it every day. But, it may be deterring ducks from coming. Don't know.