SeldomPerched
Well-known member
(1). Long time birders might find this laughable but I am curious to hear ideas about this:
Today after too many days indoors and wanting to see what was going on around the R Stour in my part of east Kent I took a walk with my binoculars on the off chance there would be some good nature sights and just generally to get some fresh air and exercise. Things turned out quite interesting. In particular there was a sizeable group of ducks up on the leafy vegetation near the edge of the very high and fast flowing river water (there has been a very large amount of rainfall in the last four or so days). What caught my attention was a solitary drake standing in the middle of and very slightly behind the group of eleven sitting drakes and ducks — these being five hens and five drakes sitting close together in pairs, and one more drake who seemed to me to be keeping a low profile beside the riverbank and slightly distanced from the others. Am I just being fanciful and sentimental or would it be typical behaviour that the one standing and alert drake in the middle was in fact standing sentry and looking out for the others while they rested?
Continuing the walk, as the sun came out in dazzling strength and I emerged from the wooded stretch of river into open meadowland, I spotted a thrush, slightly on the small side, singing away quite camouflaged in the branches of a yellowy tree. It spent a minute or two in each place before darting across to another branch of the tree, each time singing lustily and giving me great views through my four days ago purchased new old stock Zeiss HT. I was pleased to be able to point out the thrush to a visitor who was keen to find and zoom in on the bird for a photo. It was also great to put the bins to the test in this way and I am delighted by them.
I would love to know if I am reading too much into the positioning of the drake amid the other more sedentary eleven ducks.
(2). More human than bird behaviour, but what would the tactful advice be to locals or tourists who understandably feed the ducks with bread so as to teach their children kindness to animals? What if anything should they try instead of bread? And what are the effects of bread on ducks or other birds for that matter? We get a lot of tourists and there are no signs or advice that I have ever seen locally to help on this topic.
Thank you,
Tom
Today after too many days indoors and wanting to see what was going on around the R Stour in my part of east Kent I took a walk with my binoculars on the off chance there would be some good nature sights and just generally to get some fresh air and exercise. Things turned out quite interesting. In particular there was a sizeable group of ducks up on the leafy vegetation near the edge of the very high and fast flowing river water (there has been a very large amount of rainfall in the last four or so days). What caught my attention was a solitary drake standing in the middle of and very slightly behind the group of eleven sitting drakes and ducks — these being five hens and five drakes sitting close together in pairs, and one more drake who seemed to me to be keeping a low profile beside the riverbank and slightly distanced from the others. Am I just being fanciful and sentimental or would it be typical behaviour that the one standing and alert drake in the middle was in fact standing sentry and looking out for the others while they rested?
Continuing the walk, as the sun came out in dazzling strength and I emerged from the wooded stretch of river into open meadowland, I spotted a thrush, slightly on the small side, singing away quite camouflaged in the branches of a yellowy tree. It spent a minute or two in each place before darting across to another branch of the tree, each time singing lustily and giving me great views through my four days ago purchased new old stock Zeiss HT. I was pleased to be able to point out the thrush to a visitor who was keen to find and zoom in on the bird for a photo. It was also great to put the bins to the test in this way and I am delighted by them.
I would love to know if I am reading too much into the positioning of the drake amid the other more sedentary eleven ducks.
(2). More human than bird behaviour, but what would the tactful advice be to locals or tourists who understandably feed the ducks with bread so as to teach their children kindness to animals? What if anything should they try instead of bread? And what are the effects of bread on ducks or other birds for that matter? We get a lot of tourists and there are no signs or advice that I have ever seen locally to help on this topic.
Thank you,
Tom
