Sunday: Duck report

September 9, 2018 • 11:30 am

PCC(E) here, and we have the latest update from Anna. The headline, though is “Ducks still here.”

Subheadline: Crustacean carnage

Anna’s note:

Here are more pics and a video. Apparently a crawfish met its end.
Now I don’t know if ducks eat crayfish, so I’m agnostic on that point, but knowledgable readers can weigh in:
Note that Anna had to toss corn onto Duck Island #1 to get them to eat it:
And a video, showing James’s patented twerking moves:

22 thoughts on “Sunday: Duck report”

    1. You’re on. My bet is on them not eating crayfish. The theory: their bills are poorly constructed for breaking shells.

      1. I think ducks are able to swallow lots of bugs whole and process their exoskeletons just fine. I assume the same to be true of crayfish though it may depend on the size.

        1. I just watched the DUCKumentary suggested in another post today. The film shows a duck of the far north that eats clams whole and breaks them down in the gizzard. It seems likely the local ducks have some of that same capacity.

    1. Well, the current interest is whether they stay or go. If they go, then why did they return several times, seemingly worn out? It’s been raining steadily in Pittsburgh the last day+, and that seems to be a system heading ENE from the Mississippi delta. Presumably this core was a good bit WSW of here a few days ago. So if they overwinter in the Mississippi basin, and if they do eventually leave, did they get airborne and go for a distance, encounter the system and turn back, at considerable energetic expense?

    2. During duck season, the Duck Report is the first thing I look for. I do hope we learn more about the comings and goings (and goings and comings) of Honey and James. Would love to know more about duck thought processes (as well as my own). I will stay with this book to the end. By the way, PCC(E), I think it has been said before but,this could be a wonderful book for children.

    3. Forse – You’ve just got to get your eye in.
      It’s like Islam – Islam has very little of interest to say about ducks outside their utility [or otherwise] as food – this reflects the lack of imagination inherent in authoritarian Islam. The duckophile knows different. 🙂

    4. The heading clearly has the words “duck report” in it. If you find the articles about the ducks boring, you should do what I do with the Caturday reports and skip them.

      I understand your point of view, but it’s not compulsory to read every post on WEIT.

      1. “…it’s not compulsory to read every post on WEIT.” Are you sure? Can we get an official ruling from PCC(e)?

    1. ++
      Was watching a family of raccoons tearing shellfish off the rocks at low tide last weekend.

  4. The claw looks old and weathered — awfully pale for fresh. And broken — which is not duck work, IMO. Could be raccoons, but if they were around regularly they’d have preyed on the ducks too.

    I suggest turtles as possible crayfish predator.

  5. I have always understood that if you feed ducks they will eventually delay their migration and may stop entirely.

    And yes of course ducks will eat crayfish and just about anything small enough for them to dismember and swallow. A crayfish may eventually reach a size and armor thickness that makes eating it problematical but for most of its life it is on the menu.

  7. Duck twerking…hahaha, I love it. I raise Muscovy Ducks and instead of quacking they communicate with heavy breathy noises and dramatic butt wiggles. I’ve got a whole page on my website dedicated to them. I realize someone already answered the crustacean eating question, but I can confirm that ducks do eat them – they eat everything really. My Muscovy have claws and sharp “teeth” that make eating larger pray easy. I have no doubt that mallards are just as deadly with smaller prey.

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