Gertrude? -02
Mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) Robert Lake, Kelowna, BC.
Behaviour sets this duck apart. She tends to keep to herself, as Gertie did in previous years. Most other members of the clan interact with each other much more.
She isn't the least bit perturbed by my walking around her and taking shots from every angle. She will not be touched, of course. She makes great eye contact — when she wants to. She spends most of her time either preening or sleeping, it seems. Most Mallards are pretty clear, in my experience; she and her clan are exceptionally so.
In the comment below linking us back to when her duckling were younger, we cannot see her bill, unfortunately, so I cannot tell if the duck above is simply the latest iteration of Gertrude, or the mother of this year's brood. That bill is certainly problematic. (Sadly, if I had any shots of her bill from the spring I've apparently deleted them....)
Gertrude? -02
Mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) Robert Lake, Kelowna, BC.
Behaviour sets this duck apart. She tends to keep to herself, as Gertie did in previous years. Most other members of the clan interact with each other much more.
She isn't the least bit perturbed by my walking around her and taking shots from every angle. She will not be touched, of course. She makes great eye contact — when she wants to. She spends most of her time either preening or sleeping, it seems. Most Mallards are pretty clear, in my experience; she and her clan are exceptionally so.
In the comment below linking us back to when her duckling were younger, we cannot see her bill, unfortunately, so I cannot tell if the duck above is simply the latest iteration of Gertrude, or the mother of this year's brood. That bill is certainly problematic. (Sadly, if I had any shots of her bill from the spring I've apparently deleted them....)