New behaviors (normal?) and loss of head feathers

[AlyssaB4]

So I have a few questions/concerns (I apologize for the lengthiness in advance. Just wanted to get it all out in one post):

- I have one male and one female mallard who are 4 1/2 months old. Two weeks ago the girl started doing this weird ‘chewing the air’ motion (I have a video of it but u can’t figure out how to upload it). But she would just chew at the air with her neck somewhat extended. It ranged from for a minute or so to eventually nonstop for 10-20 minutes or so at night until I calmed her by signing her fav lullaby I initially thought maybe she had something stuck in her throat but she was still pooping and eating fine.

- Towards the end of that behavior^, she started making a new clicking sound. She tucks her head down, looking at the floor and talking tiny steps and does a clicking sound when she is surprised (like someone walking in I wasn’t sure if this was just a new sound for her excited chirping (which she still does too). But being that she also had that chewing air behavior. I started worrying that this was all from some type of anxiousness? Or if this is all normal? If so what do these behaviors mean? This video was me pretending to jog away to get her to follow me, so I could get her to react and get it in video.

- Lastly, she has started loosing the little feathers in the top, front of her head and the cheeks, which are what all the pictures below show. I was wondering if she may be molting? But I have been seeing varying information online, most saying they don’t molt their first year. I haven’t been able to get all the way down to see the skin yet, but I have looked around her vent as deep down as I could for now and did not see signs of mites. They have plenty of swimming time (most of their day is spent floating around their pool). And her poop doesn’t show signs of worms either.
Thank you in advance. I’m trying to figure out if these are all normal or if it is something of concern.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

To upload videos you have to use video hosting sitesuch as you tube or vimeo.
Chewing at the air is normal, but the clicking sound is not. Also, it's not normal to "chew" for such an extended time. I wonder if something is caught in her throat?
She definitely could be molting as it is that time of the year.

 

[AlyssaB4]

To upload videos you have to use video hosting sitesuch as you tube or vimeo.
Chewing at the air is normal, but the clicking sound is not. Also, it's not normal to "chew" for such an extended time. I wonder if something is caught in her throat?
She definitely could be molting as it is that time of the year.

ok thank you. I was able to edit the post and include the videos! as far as the molting, so they can molt on their first year? I kept seeing mixed information and wasn’t sure which was right. For the other two behaviors. Hopefully the videos help. The chewing motion has reduced a lot the Last few days. She did it for a second last night and then stopped. Initially, i started giving her some larger things like a couple of feeder goldfish so that hopefully if there was something there it would get pushed down.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Looks like she is coming into sexually mature behavior. Actually, my Muscovy do the air chewing thing.
She sure is pretty.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

My muscovy do air chewing as well. Just usually they do it all together like they have something they're gossiping about.
The 2nd video is head bobbing. They do make those sounds when they do it. It's a form of communication.
I know ducks go through different growth spurts and when they do that they molt within the first year. It won't be a full molt. My runners are molting a little I think - that or they are getting feathers pulled by my muscovy. I don't have mallards though.

 

[AlyssaB4]

Looks like she is coming into sexually mature behavior. Actually, my Muscovy do the air chewing thing.
She sure is pretty.

That’s really interesting. And Little says thank u for the compliment (Big is the boy. We started calling them that since we didn’t know the gender at first. Then found out they already started learning their names So little and big it is)

 

[AlyssaB4]

My muscovy do air chewing as well. Just usually they do it all together like they have something they're gossiping about.
The 2nd video is head bobbing. They do make those sounds when they do it. It's a form of communication.
I know ducks go through different growth spurts and when they do that they molt within the first year. It won't be a full molt. My runners are molting a little I think - that or they are getting feathers pulled by my muscovy. I don't have mallards though.

Ok good to know! Everything else seems fine. The loss of feather don’t seem like the typical places for mites from what I’ve read, and they have so much water time that I doubt it’s that. So I will just assume it’s some minor molting as u said, especially since the other two behaviors I wasn’t sure about turn out to be perfectly normal! thanks again