As I was walking the trail this morning, I was startled by a rustling in the tall grass. Suddenly a duck burst out of the grass into the water, and started frantically running back and forth through the water, creating quite the commotion -- which was intended to distract me from her young chicks who were still in the grass. It was a wood duck, with 8 or 10 chicks, who eventually all made it down into the water. Mom soon rounded them up and all was well. This same behavior would have been used had it been a predator. I saw a similar distracting display by a blue-winged teal a couple of years ago at the marsh.
No comments:
Post a Comment