Duck and Bird Photos

[NW-Bound]

In the thread here, Redduck said he would be thinking about NW-Bound and Freebird (I surely hope more the latter than the former). At the same time, I have been thinking about ducks. Not just because of the above thread, but also because of this thread here about duck fat, duck confit, and Peking duck. I have not had any for a while, so perhaps that craving affected me.

Then, it occurred to me that most urbanites do not get to see ducks too often. No, I am not talking about frozen ducks in supermarkets, nor roasted ducks hanging in glass cases of Oriental charcuteries. It's live ducks I am talking about here.

I have a soft spot for ducks I guess, because whenever I spotted them, I took photos. See, it is not simply duck-ready-to-eat that attracts my attention. And the duck quacks sound as charming to me as songbird chirpings, although I likely would change my mind after being through a duck farm (they have them on Long Island, which I will pay a visit with my RV at some point).

So, to spend some of my ER leisure time, I looked through my travel photos for duck shots (made with cameras, not firearms!). I am sharing them here in this thread.

Please post your photos of ducks, birds, and whatever that have two legs and fly, or swim. And by the way, someone says that if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. I am no bird biologist, but I don't think that is true. Do you? I call two of the animals in my photos "goose", but I could be wrong.

Has anyone seen a red duck in real life? It is supposedly a common Eurasia duck, also called fudge duck, or ferruginous duck according to the Web. I might have seen one in the past without paying any attention, back when I was only interested in edible ducks instead of live ducks.

PS. I am not making up the following story. I knew an engineer who disputed the above saying about the duck qualifications. He said that he met all three requirements, yet he was sure that he was not a duck. I could not agree with him nor disagree although I knew he was not a duck. I did not see him swim.

 

[Nemo2]

Here are a couple Greek (Travis Bickle impersonators) Storks:

 

[Nemo2]

And a bird bath:

 

[braumeister]

I think I may be able to resolve the dilemma.
A good friend of mine, many years ago, used to add another criterion:

If it
looks like a duck,
walks like a duck,
quacks like a duck,
and all its friends are ducks,

then it's a duck.

 

[NW-Bound]

I used to think that one of the criteria was the "look", but when I did further research into this saying, it was really the "swim".

From Wikipedia,

Indiana poet James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916) may have coined the phrase when he wrote "when I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." The phrase may also have originated much later with Emil Mazey, secretary-treasurer of the United Auto Workers, at a labor meeting in 1946 accusing a person of being a communist.​

See Duck test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for more information.

Adding the 4th criterion still does not solve the basic problem. Basically, the above is a circular definition by using similarity. In order to define a duck, we need to first agree on how a duck walks, swims, and quacks. Is there a standard duck used as an international reference, the same way we define a meter or a liter?

Redduck, are you there? Could you help us out?

PS. How can dictionaries be any good? They are just a list of circular definitions. How do I pick up a Greek dictionary and start to learn that language?

 

[braumeister]

Is there a standard duck used as an international reference

That shouldn't be a problem. Get yourself one of these, and you ought to be able to attract a standard duck so you can measure and define it.

 

[FIREd]

I found a few pictures of ducks/birds while looking through my photos:

 

[NW-Bound]

All nice photos! Please keep them coming.

Braumeister, thanks for the tip. Who wouldda thunk that for a mere $22.99 (limited time offer, shipping charge extra), all my questions would be answered. As that ad said explicitly, it's a "Standard Duck" call, so any non-standard or deviant duck should not respond. Excellent!

Yes, I did search the Web and found that Web site with that ad that you posted. It is Sam Ash Direct, and they sell music gears like guitars, drums, etc... Are duck calls used in music production? I am confused. Still, I look up the description to make sure that it will attract only "standard ducks".

Well, the description says

ACME Standard Duck Call
The plastic Acme 572 Standard Duck Call produces a good Mallard, Teal and Widgeon call. As in the name, it is an excellent quack.​

I know mallards, but teals and widgeons? I am even more confused. What are these animals, and how can all of them be "standard ducks"?

 

[Nemo2]

Two hunters sitting in a boat......one hunter yells "Duck".....the other guy stands up and gets his head blown off.

 

[Tyro]

We don't seem to get many ducks anymore -- just these larger specimens.

 

[NW-Bound]

Duck in Pool

While sorting through my photos, I run across these that are suitable for this thread. I saw the single colorful mallard in my pool last March. Then, a few days later it came back with a female companion. Or was it a different mallard than the first one? How do we tell them apart? Nothing to eat in my pool, so they did not stay very long. I am not a birdie, so do not know where they were migrating from, nor where to.

I also had a picture of a stork standing on my neighbor's roof. I need to search for it though. A stork in the desert SW! How can that be?

 

[bjorn2bwild]

I searched my photo files but came up with goose eggs... oh well. But then, I do get all the chicks.

On my ride along the river trail I see Redhead ducks -

My favorite is the Wood duck -

 

[Walt34]

Looking around I found a few. The robin's nest was a few years ago, I may have posted these then. The robin family built their nest under my deck. Of course they left whenever I came out so I put the camera on a tripod, set up one or two flashes and set the camera to take a shot every 45 seconds or so. Most were throwaways of course but a few came out well.

The ducks and swans were at City Park in Hagerstown, MD. It is one of the largest city-owned parks in the country.

 

[MissMolly]

A hawk that hangs around our backyard. Kind of scary when you have a dog that only weighs 5 lbs.

 

[Ronstar]

Duck in Pool

While sorting through my photos, I run across these that are suitable for this thread. I saw the single colorful mallard in my pool last March. Then, a few days later it came back with a female companion. Or was it a different mallard than the first one? How do we tell them apart? Nothing to eat in my pool, so they did not stay very long. I am not a birdie, so do not know where they were migrating from, nor where to.

I also had a picture of a stork standing on my neighbor's roof. I need to search for it though. A stork in the desert SW! How can that be?

That's crazy! - never heard of or saw mallard ducks in a pool in az

 

[Ronstar]

another mallard

and a great blue heron

 

[imoldernu]

Limpkin and babies

 

[NW-Bound]

That's crazy! - never heard of or saw mallard ducks in a pool in az

I have seen mallards in golf-course lakes around here, I think. So, perhaps a stray one somehow landed in my pool. Most houses around here have a pool, so the chance that one lands in my pool is small. Yet, somehow that happened twice just a few days apart in March 2013.

Anyway, weirder is the stork or egret that I saw on my neighbor's roof, back in March 2009. Took me a while, but I found the photo. Perhaps March is a month for bird and duck migration.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Anyway, weirder is the stork or egret that I saw on my neighbor's roof, back in March 2009.

'Tis a Great Blue Heron.

 

[NW-Bound]

'Tis a Great Blue Heron.

Thanks. I believe that. I searched and found a photo from the Web of another great blue heron found on someone else's roof, but it's not in AZ. Mine did not have the plume behind its head for some reason.

Wikipedia says the great blue heron habitat includes all of AZ, and that's year round. I would not have "thunk", as there are not many water bodies here!

 

[NW-Bound]

And this is called an egret, I think. I took this photo on Avery Island, Louisiana.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

And this is called an egret, I think. I took this photo on Avery Island, Louisiana.

I think so, a Great Egret. Although the Great Blue Heron can be all white during the white phase it has a heavier body and usually has yellowish legs at that time. The plume is not always apparent. (previous photo)

 

[Meadbh]

I took this duck photo in Peachland, BC a few years ago.

Just last month our condo board had a complaint from a resident that a duck had been spotted swimming in our pool and that the board should "do something about it". Short of closing the pool, enclosing it in wire netting, or issuing the duck a notice of Bylaw Complaint, we decided to live and let quack.

 

[Nemo2]

Two shots taken in Northern Greece ~ 30 years ago......(Yeah, I know, the photography stinks....but I like the subjects):

 

[Ronstar]

Here's another Great Blue Heron