Thursday, December 20, 2007

Strange duck behaviour

I have some interesting observations about duck behaviour to share.
I had a male called Peking. While’st very friendly, he was also very moody.
If I upset him in anyway he would take a bite out of my arm or leg.
In a good mood he would nibble me all over, but other times he would
bite and if I smacked him he would become enraged and attack me. I had to get rid of him
because I was never sure what mood he was in.

I kept two of his offspring, two females. Naturally one dominated the other
who was pretty shy, staying in the background while the other was very tame.
Lets call the friendly, dominant one No.1, the other

Surf Scoter seen at Manly Dam!!!!!

Extremely rare species of duck graces Sydney's north

The Surf Scoter is rarely seen outside North America but has been spotted on Manly Dam reservoir.

The black-feathered bird has an oddly-shaped, multi-coloured bill and usually lives along the coast.

Wayne Ball, a fellow duck lover, said: "It's put [the reservoir] on the map as a site for such birds."

Mussel eaters

"It's very nice to have the bird sighting here which is the first sighting in Sydney.

"Only four have been spotted inland in the state , and there's been less than 20 records in the country," he said.

The Surf Scoter is also known as the Goggle-nose or Horse-head Coot and has a pronounced hump on the top of its bill.

Hundreds of thousands of the birds spend the winter in the coastal waters off British Columbia in Canada.