Need help figuring out who the noisy one is (Mandarins,Woods).

[jsvand5]

I have 2 pairs of mandarins, a pair of Woods, and a pair of hooded mergansers. This morning for the first time I noticed one was being quite loud. I could hear it from inside the house. I am pretty sure it's not the Mergansers. The male hooded does make a loud noise once in a while in the morning but this one was different. The noise was a series of short loud noises that happened every couple minutes. Almost sounded like a quack. Could this mean they are getting ready for breeding? The hoodeds are 2 years old, and the mandarins and woods are one year old. They are all fully colored. I am building nest boxes this weekend. I am hoping the noise calms down. The neighbors are very close and I went with these breeds because they are supposed to be very quiet.

 

[chickenlittle32]

I have a pair of woodies and they are VERY quiet..They will make a high pitch noise like a small whistle when they are looking for each other and that is about it....

 

[jsvand5]

I think it is probably the Mandarins. The woods looked like they were foraging when the noise was going on. Every time I went outside to check they would stop so I am not sure. I guess it could have been the female Hooded. Anyone know if they make any noise?

 

[chickenlittle32]

Check this out...

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Merganser/id

 

[tfpets]

I dont know about Mandarin Hens, I only have drakes...they have a really neat whistle, and it's pretty loud but now like a quack...it is a whistle....they get excited when I come out to their enclosure, and start whistling when I'm in the area....
I've never heard the others....Then again, I have call ducks who run all over, man, that is loud!!
Tina

 

[jsvand5]

Quote:
My male hooded does make that noise when he is displaying for the female but this was a different noise.

 

[tonini3059]

I am not sure but I can tell you, kind of, what noises ours make. The woodies make a high pitched squeak, similar to a mouse. The mandarins make a grunting sound, similar to a pig. I know this is not very descriptive but I hope it helps.

 

[chickenlittle32]

Could it possibly have been a wild duck flying over? LOL

 

[chickenlittle32]

Here's another site...with all the ducks you have listed you can hear the different sounds...
http://www.junglewalk.com/sound/Ducks-sounds.htm

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Plain and simple, it's your wood duck hens!
Mandarin drakes have a fast clucking pigish sound, their hens dont really make much noise at all,
the mergansers are virtually mute, the drake will make a courtship, gutteral vibration sound during his displays, aside from that, you'll never here a peep out of either sex.
Woodies have tons of different vocalization, the drakes have whistles, mememe sounds, and a few others, most are soft and not very loud. The hens on the other hand, are the locator callers when flying and serching for others to land with. They have about 5 differnt sounds they make, all of which are fairly loud, as they are locator calls none really sound like a quack though.
Quacks come from mallards, pintails, black ducks and such as that.
I've had 100 different species of migratoty waterfowl over the years, and it's amasing how many different sounds they all make.

Yes, mostly it's breeding season right around the corner, so they will continue to do it, though I dont think any are frequent nor loud enough to really bother neighbors...