Has your mallard flown away?

[CityChicker]

No offense to anyone, but sometimes I think when people lose Mallards, they did not really "fly away" on their own. My family has always had Mallards. They had them before I started getting my own birds (separate from the family birds) and I have *never* seen one fly away. Never. They will sometimes go on short journeys of a day or even just a few hours (if kept in uncovered pens, which no ducks should be as far as I'm concerned), but I have never had one just completely fly off in the 25 or more years I have been old enough to care for the ducks.

At least a couple times a week here, we have people post about losing birds with no signs of the bird left (and these are often large fowl). A bird the size of a Mallard is quite easy for a predator to snag. I suspect this accounts for a large percentage of the ones that just disappear, especially the tame ones.

 

[scooter147]

I had 12 mallards I raised from a day old (hatchery birds) approx. 12 years ago. Mine flew away, the last I saw of them was 12 butts going over the big barn never to be seen or heard from again.

 

[CityChicker]

I suspect that if you had an entire flock of 12 Mallards completely all at once fly away, there is a reason. In my experience, it is hard to even chase Mallards away. We have had a number of times where wild Mallards would even take up residence on our farm and be impossible to chase off. Could they have not felt safe there? There must be a reason for all of them to take off at once and not come back.

Anyway, that is my experience. When I hear of an extremely tame Mallard disappearing suddenly, I think predator. It just doesn't happen that they fly off or disappear without reason. Even when we have had individual birds prone to taking flights (actually far more common with our Aussie Spots than our Mallards), they always come back in fairly short order and these are birds that sometimes were quite wild. I just can't imagine a tame Mallard, especially one that is by itself, just taking off and leaving home. They may leave, but they generally do not go far or forever. If their needs are met, they tend to stay around. I can't imagine a whole group doing it all at once without something seriously encouraging them to do so.

 

[Rosecomb-Ryan]

Well mine did fly away... she didnt get killed... I have had a male wild mallard hang around in our pool he comes about once a week and then someone gave me a mallard duckling that turned out to be a female. She has a band on and she stays with him. I see them now about once in 2-3 weeks... So I guess she has to come visit and get a bit and then she is off.... So I guess she hasnt completly flown away...


Ryan

 

[zazouse]

We have 3 ponds and our property borders a fresh water resivor, our ducks fly from pond to pond and i have never seem them in the resivor.

I have lost ducks but not because they flew away and we have wild ducks of all kinds fly in daily.

 

[Tia Z.]

I've read that the mating instinct can be strong and that's why I thought he may have flown away. I thought I had a hen and she turned out the be a boy and unfortunately I found this out after all the feed stores in the area stopped carrying ducklings. Of course I understand that a predator is always an option when a bird disappears, but usually there is a sign when that happens. I'm just looking for answers, but truth is, I'll probably never know

 

[Rosecomb-Ryan]

Since you live in Chico (CA Right? lol ) If he happens to come by I will send him back your way.... Maybe is was just wanting to check out the rest of CA.

 

[AdamD77]

I think the one that suits the situation best is a predator. Although your duck was very attatched to you and you were very close, if he was out and a predator spooked him/went to attack him he may have flown away just as his sole defence mechanism. It may end up that he comes home soon

 

[JuicyFatHead]

In response to the person who said some people never actually have their mallard 'fly' away. I just watched my wild mallard adoptee fly away from her family of 6 cayugas. She flew around our property a few times.. then fly in one direction is gone. It's only been 20 minutes.. so we'll see...! It is night though and the middle of alaskan wilderness

 

[desertdarlene]

I've heard lots of people say that their wild-type mallards fly away and even come back. Right now, it's prime migration season and if he saw a wild group of ducks, maybe he decided to check them out. Ducks really do fly off from their homes, sometimes, I know it happens. Many do come back, I would worry, some, though, because I think hunting season has already started in your area. In ours, it starts on the 22nd. It's only been a day, so don't give up hope, yet.

However, he could gave gotten spooked and may be hiding nearby.

ETA: I sometimes see many farm-banded ducks at our local lakes. These are farm bands, not the metal tracking bands use by different agencies to track ducks, so I know they were domestically raised. Perhaps your duck went down to your local lake or waterway.