Wobs does it too! He only does it out of water, and never when he's not in sight of myself or Bean. He starts with the head shiver, then mep...mep...mep...MEP....CHEEE-HOONK!" Like a big sneeze! And I love the head down frantic "MAHP MAHP MAHP mahp mahp..." and he scurries around like Groucho Marx!
Both Kaine and Tevye exhibit this behavior, I have heard the same that it is a "show off" behavior, but it seems kind of random. They do it both in the water and out, and although there is always a female around (which is most of the time anyway) it doesn't necessarily coincide with head bobbing or mating behavior.
The drakes of my group might have felt intimidated by the new drake. But they all have a girl so it seems silly to me. The nodding is more of a partner thing:
"Do you love me?"
"Yes, yes, yes"
(optional love making)
But also
"Should I go up there?"
"Yes that's OK"
"Will I fly up there?"
"That's alright, baby"
"Okay I will get up there"
"Yes"
"I'm really gonna fly up there"
"That's good"
"Nevermind I stay in the water"
"Ok, I love you, baby"
Wobs does it too! He only does it out of water, and never when he's not in sight of myself or Bean. He starts with the head shiver, then mep...mep...mep...MEP....CHEEE-HOONK!" Like a big sneeze! And I love the head down frantic "MAHP MAHP MAHP mahp mahp..." and he scurries around like Groucho Marx!
Yesterday my wife and I went to a friend's wedding. This meant the ducks were responsible for themselves. (Subject to monitoring
). They all went in the house nice and early. First door closed... 6 minutes later, the last-call door opened... All the ducks went back outside. And they played around until the last door closed... Trapped... Outside... At night... After over a month of perfect attendance, they all flunked bed time
. So we excused ourselves and went home to kick some ducky butt. (we were only about 10 minutes away, so not a real big deal.) In this video, I just got to the house and the ducks (who had set up a defensive posture on the poop pile) had just recognized me. They know I won't hurt them and that I will let them in (evident by them approaching me and going to their door), but since I don't want them to think they can just do what they want and I will come bail them out, they get flipped which they don't like much. I started with Kaine, because he is responsible for the whole flock: "Why didn't you get your flock in tonight?", I yell at him. Then I pick up a couple more random ducks and ask them "Why aren't you in your house?"... By the time I push the button to open the door, they all want in the house bad and are hoping they don't get flipped this time. @Julie Bird note on duck #3 you can see a web fly up
. A quick check to see that no ducks were hiding behind the house, and I am off... Hopefully next time they will go to bed (and stay there) when they are supposed to
Please note, this is from a security cam just before it switches to IR mode so it is about the worst quality the cam produces.
I have yet to see drakes doing this out of the water
