Here’s what happens when I try to feed the new to-be-named mallard at the same time as Honey. She lowers her head and swims very fast toward the interloper, driving her away. It’s competition for food, folks!
I still manage to slip some noms to the new mallard on the sly, but half the time there’s a kerfuffle. When it’s not feeding time, they’re pals, swimming peacefully in tandem.
He’s my friend not yours!
Poor newbie.
Where are the male ducks?
They’ve flown the coop. It’s not mating season.
Oh, okay. I would have thought they might hang out in the off-season. Thank you. Actually, I know a little bit about duck mating. I just remembered. They are hardcore compared to some other species if that’s even the correct language to use.
I you didn’t know any better, you would say it was Rape, it’s a very violent act.
Wow, she can really move.
Honey shakes her tail feathers after she’s successfully run off the other duck. I’m probably reading too much into it when I imagine that she’s doing the equivalent of a “well, that’s done!” hand wipe, where one briskly brushes the palm of one hand against the other.
She always does that after a chase.
This must be Honey’s theme song:
That scene was filmed at 47th and Prairie, two miles from PCC(e)’s office. Maybe inspired by some of Honey’s ancestors.
She looks like a Cinnamon to me, the name goes well with Honey <3
Have you ever posted a photo of the entire pond? From this video, it looks a lot bigger than I imagined.
Many pics of the Botany Pond available online. Its original purpose was research.
Alumni magazine article about the ducks of Botany Pond.
http://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/ducks-botany-pond
The Main Quadrangle of the UofC Campus is pretty spectacular. Many people have seen it in the opening scene from “When Harry Met Sally”. There are many smaller courtyards around the main quad – like the one with Botany Pond outside of Jerry’s office.
It was the main quad that finalized my decision to attend UofC. I visited in the summer before my senior year of high school. And all I could think was WOW! This is exactly how a college should look.
@Mark R
Botany Pond is around 50 metres N to S & perhaps 35 metres E to W
The N half of the pond has a large island that takes up most of the space, so there’s a duck ’roundabout’ leading into the open expanse of the S half
The island is traversed diagonally SW to NE by a pedestrian path that crosses the water twice – thus the path has two identical, small, stone bridges. One of these bridges is in Jerry’s vid.
Here’s a YouTube 360 degree video [you can spin your POV around in a full circle with your mouse]. At one point near the end the videographer is standing on one of the bridges.
Mark R. Now I look at the video again…
I think there’s only one stone bridge – on the SW end of the crossing of the duck roundabout. The NE crossing dispenses with a fancy bridge – just a path with grass verges I think, with the roundabout running underneath.
Probably concrete bridge – 115 yrs old or so?
Thanks George and Michael for the detailed info-much appreciated! The pond and campus is beautiful.
I believe that the bridge – like everything else in the main quad – is stone. Specifically, Indiana limestone. Same material that was used to build the Indiana University campus and inspired the title of the movie Cutters.
This page has a great pic of the bridge:
https://www.hoerrschaudt.com/project/university-of-chicago-botany-pond/
UofC opened for classes in 1892. I believed that area of campus was built around 1900.
@George
Shelly’s Loan Co.
“Established in 1946. Our family has a long history in the pawnbroker business. Our great-grandfather obtained the first pawnbroker’s license granted by the City of Chicago in 1918, although his shop had been in business since the 1890’s.
Shelly’s Loan & Jewelry was opened in 1946 when our cousin Shelly came back from his service in World War II. This is the famed location where the “Shake a Tale Feather” scene with Ray Charles was filmed for the movie the Blues Brothers. We have lots of memorabilia on our walls in the store and love meeting the tourists who come see our location because of their love for the movie.
We are the fourth generation to run the family business.It is important for us to create a very warm and personable environment for our customers to conduct business. We believe it is important to conduct business with integrity and with great respect for the customer.”
Yes now I see stone – many pics make it look like a mono-material
The movie I referred to is Breaking Away. In the movie, Cutters was the name of the cycling team in the Little 500 made up of local, non-IU, kids.
I recall seeing the same behavior with one of our cats and his mom. She was in charge but when the food came he would bump her away. That is how he got the name – bumper. But then she would smack him away and that was it.
😀
What jealousy! I’m not sure it’s just the food.
Isn’t there a good chance that these ducks will become permanent residents of the pond, save for winter migrations?
Ducks have always been residents of Botany Pond.
http://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/ducks-botany-pond
It’s funny, the low hum you can hear in the background sounded like it could be a cartoon sound effect on Honey chasing the mallard.