Well, they have to get to the water somehow. . .
Wikipedia notes what is going on here:
In the wild, Mandarin Ducks breed in densely wooded areas near shallow lakes, marshes or ponds. They nest in cavities in trees close to water and during the spring, the females lay their eggs in the tree’s cavity after mating. A single clutch of nine to twelve eggs is laid in April or May. Although the male may defend the female during incubation, he himself does not incubate the eggs and leaves before they hatch. Shortly after the ducklings hatch, their mother flies to the ground and coaxes the ducklings to leap from the nest. After all of the ducklings are out of the tree, they will follow their mother to a nearby body of water.
These fuzzy guys (Aix galericulata) grow up into beautiful animals, especially the males. They live in East Asia.
h/t: John R. Hutchinson via Matthew Cobb
Not just east Asia. Mandarins are established, naturalised, members of the British fauna now.
Really? Interesting. Is that specific to certain areas or are they abundant? (Not sure that I’ve seen any, but then I’m no ornithologist). And were they escapees from private collections or something?
Likely. Like our eagle owls.
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More.
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According to German wikipedia the European breeding population(mainly Britain + Central Europe) is about 7000 (no date given – article also contains numbers for individual countries).
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarinente
A map in Dutch wikipedia gives an idea of the duck’s main areas of distribution in Europe.
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarijneend
This 7000 is approximately half the world population. Russia, China and Japan together hold about the same numbers. Apart from Japan the other two have about 1000 breeding pairs. Due mainly to capture for the collectors and habitat destruction.
I think there are also several populations in the USA.
Quick! Someone get a safety…. oh never mind.
Amazing beauty happens when there is no christian god around to muck up the works.
[montypython]
They don’t fly so much as plummet!
[/montypython]
You know, they almost resemble flying squirrels, except that they’re perhaps a bit closer to a regular non-flying squirrel attempting to play SuperSquirrel. And I’m not sure, but you might need to get the squirrel to drink a few beers to complete the effect.
One wonders how they ever manage to take wing again or conquer a fear of heights after such a start….
b&
Ducklings probably reach terminal velocity quickly.
Or, in this case — and, fortunately for them! — not-so-terminal velocity….
b&
They’re going to lose a 10th of a point for that small hop on the landing.
Belly flop, no less. Use the baby fat for cushion?
I wish I could face plant like that and hop right up and keep going.
I observe that the nest is above a nice thick bed of dead leaves. Does Momma Duck know to choose nesting sites with a soft landing below, or is this particular clutch just lucky?
Good question. And if so does the mother actually select a site specifically for a soft landing zone, or is a soft landing zone merely a highly probable feature of locations that the mother selects for other reasons?
Or is the main factor just a matter of scaling? How big, or heavy are these ducklings? If they are light enough you could drop them off a cliff and they would still be fine.
The latter I think. Wood ducks have been found nesting over concrete before.
Reblogged this on Beacon of Aquarius and commented:
Reblogged by Beacon of Aquarius July 2 2013
There are several other species that have the same behavior. Tree dwellers like Goosanders, Goldeneye and even Mallards do the same.
The most extreme behavior, though, is the Barnacle Goose which nests on cliff ledges and the youngsters bounce down the rocks to get to water. There was a BBC programme on this, but I can’t seem to find it on-line.
“That wasn’t flying! That was falling with style.” — Woody
This is essentially identical to the behavior seen in our North American congener, the Wood Duck (Aix sponsa).
“What good is half a wing?”
Eat your heart out creationists
I think the Wikipedia entry errs when it appears to suggest the male is protecting the female when he defends the nest. Would it not be more accurate to say he is protecting his genetic interest in the eggs and the female brooding them.
It was nice of the videographer to show these ducks bouncing off of a pleasant leaf trampoline, but I was at the San Diego Zoo many years ago and observed ducklings (not part of the zoo exhibit) hurling themselves off of a cliff about 10 feet above and landing on the concrete path I was walking on. They bounced just as spectacularly as these. It was actually hard for me to tell if they landed on their chest or head, it did not really seem to phase them in any case. I only saw about 4 or 5 do this, the rest were already on the path trying to follow mom over the 6 inch high concrete curb, which was a far more serious obstacle. Afterwards they headed out into the moat/pond surrounding the gibbon island, where an excited gibbon was half into the water attempting to grab duckling morsels as they swam by.
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