Spotted this group of Mallards at Narrabeen Lake yesterday. At first, because the area was shadowed I couldn't work out what was going on but when I reviewed my pics I realised it appeared that a female Mallard was being set upon by a group of male Mallards.
Birds behaving badly or is this normal behaviour at this time of year?
I suspect there's mating-type behaviour afoot, Corinne.
It's such a shame that mallards are allowed to roam free in Australia.
I was being coy when describing their activity. There certainly many more male Mallards in this area than females.
Apart from being able to hunt them for the pot what can you do to restrict their roaming? My late Mother used to tell me they were good eating.
Recently I've been out taking pics of birds in locations other than my garden and I've been surprised by the number of introduced species about.
May I suggest a wander up to Warriewood wetlands. Not far from the Narabeen lakes. You will see some natives and some migratory birds.
Thanks, richman. Had forgotten about Warriewood (living at the other end of the peninsula) - will check it out.
Perhaps the Hunters & Gatherers Association or whatever they're called these days would be a valuable resource in ensuring the demise of mallard ducks in Australia. As a nation we seem to have been quite adept at ensuring extinction of many native species so I can't see why introduced mallard ducks couldn't be encouraged to go the same way. This would help preserve the genetic integrity of our Pacific black ducks with which the mallards inter-breed.
Sitting in front of my motel room on Atherton Tableland Qld, and two blue faced honeyeaters flew into a small grevillea tree for a breakfast of nectar. I have never seen these birds before, so was a real treat.
K. Livingston