Ducks and mirrors

[raincrystalskye]

We have the sweetest blue swedish duck. About 8 weeks old. We bring it inside to visit with my daughter before she goes to bed. Tonight it saw itself in the mirrored closet doors and puffed all its feathers up, stuck its tail high, lowered its head and let our strange breathing sounds kinda like a hiss. LOL what is that? Aggressive? Defensive? Typical behavior male, female or both?

 

[raincrystalskye]

We have 3 ducks total. So it's not like its never seen another duck before

 

[JadeComputerGal]

I've had drakes do that until they became familiar with the "other drake." You can run into the same thing with glass doors, unpainted metal objects, pretty much anything that's reflective. My drakes have always calmed down pretty quickly once they've realized the "other drake" isn't a threat. I have several mirrors in the duck pen that the ducks like to look at themselves in and occasionally peck on. My Rouen drakes loves looking at himself more than any of my others. He's fond of standing in front of the sliding door and and checking himself out, and he seems to have a routine. He checks his front for a while, then the left side, then the right side, then the back. When neighbors ask what he's doing, I tell them he's trying to decide whether his feathers make his butt look too big

 

[Kleonaptra]

Lol I love animal reactions to reflection.

It sounds like the classic 'that is the most impressive bird Ive ever seen! I better puff up. Oh no hes puffing up! I better hiss so he gets the idea. Oh No hes hissing back! Oh No!'

We have a male magpie lark that attacks himself in all our house windows and car mirrors. My partner says, hasnt he figured out the other bird isnt a threat? I said, how can he know that? All he knows is the handsomest bird hes ever seen is somehow EVERYWHERE he goes, and hes got to keep him away from his lady!

My stallion once saw his reflection, just for a second, in the sliding glass doors. He dragged me around the property for ages looking for that ghost stallion, all puffed up, sniffing like mad and looking everywhere. "I dont know who that handsome devil is, or why I cant smell him, but hes around here SOMEWHERE" when I finally let him go back to his ladies (the younger one pregnant to him) he ran around and peed in all the gateways. "That will show him who owns this place. I tell you I saw him...Couldnt smell him but hes here somewhere"

 

[TeriHarmon]

I have a mirror hanging off a tall driftwood stump in the run. Certain hens will go up to it and I have a female Pekin that will always go look at herself after she bathes.