Whistle and Humm

[littlebirchfarm]

I'm very curious about a behavior that my Swedish Drake is exhibiting. I call it "whistle and hum" and it occurs when the drake is in the pond with two or three of his ladies. He starts by rising up in the water while giving a short whistle, then gives a low hum while dropping back down into the water. I've never seen any of the other drakes do this, and it only happens when he is in the pond. Any ideas?

 

[Kleonaptra]

It is normal drake behaviour. My little wild drake did it a lot when he was young, mostly in the pond. It's kind of a mating dance. My little call boys do it too, maybe its only certain breed strains that do it.

 

[littlebirchfarm]

Thanks so much for responding! I thought that it might be normal but hadn't seen that type of behavior in the past
Steve

 

[Kleonaptra]

By the way, Welcome to BYC!

 

[Amykins]

You mean like this?

If so, yep, that's definitely mating behavior! The sound sucks in that vid but Wobbles makes the typical "kee-WHOONK" sound whenever he does it, which is pretty dang frequently ever since Bean came of age. Cheeky boy. I was confused when I first saw it too, I thought he had some sort of whooping cough. Not exactly a light bulb moment for yours truly.

 

[littlebirchfarm]

Yes, that's it exactly! I figured that it had something to do with impressing the girls as he only does it when they're on the pond with him

 

[Sfraker]

My drakes do that before and after, if you know what I mean.

That is normal courting behavior and noises. Generally afterwards mine do that while swimming really fast around their pool. We call it their victory lap. LOL!