The Tao of the Duck

[LeeP]

It's about time someone gave the duck the respect and admiration it so richly deserves.

http://www.jagaimo.com/duck


Lee

[barn owl 72]

the more ducks there are the merrier! My hunger for these sites grow! Oh, did I say you look ducky <licks beak> Just joking.

[natterjack]

Ducks are fine in the right place.

I work with people who have to deal with a lot of them in the wrong place - ie Wildlife ponds in town parks. The problem isn't so much the ducks, as the people who feed them. The result is that food that the ducks don't get feeds the rats (and the same people complain about the rats) or just rots in the water, whilst the stuff they do get comes out the other end into the water. Either way it eutrophies the pond and kills off what other wildlife the hordes of ducks attracted by the food availability in the first place don't eat or trample on [rant...rave...]

Just thought I'd throw that in. I know that I'm never going to persuade people to stop feeding the ducks.

[LeeP]

Watch out, owl. My good friends, the murder of crows that live here, are experiencing a growing dislike for you.

Hi toad,
Be very careful. The owl will have you long before he has the ducklings.

I'm trying desparately to figure out just what kind of ecological debacle you've got going over there. First, what kinds of ducks are they? Are they wild or "dumped" farm and pet ducks? This situation, I think, can be fixed if it hasn't devolved too far. This is not normal duck behavior, at least here. Maybe I could make some suggestions that have worked elsewhere.

I'm really curious about this so sound off. Let's talk.


Lee

[Thais]

Aren't wildlife ponds places where you would normally find ducks??

It's all water off a duck's back to me :P

(I love 'em!)

[natterjack]

LeeP -

Well, if you really want to know, this could get quite long. Here goes.

My hometown has quite a few public parks, mostly ex mansion grounds donated in the 19th century. As well as the short grass and ornamental avenues of trees etc, (which suffer from grey squirrels, but that's another thread!) they now all have (by design or neglect) wildlife areas, typically centring around the ex ornamental or landscaped ponds. These ponds, were they not in town centres, would be home to maybe 1-4 pairs of ducks plus a couple of moorhens or coots etc, and that would be fine and sustainable and dandy.

In the town, a typical population would be some dozens of ducks (mallards, a very common native species; and a few introduced exotics such as mandarins - not a problem, and ruddy ducks - not much of a problem here, but hybridising with native species in Spain), several geese (Canada - also introduced and rather a problem), a good many gulls (we're on a estuary), a swan or two, and a couple of moorhens. Also an occasional terrapin or similar (not native, but many were released after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stopped being popular). The situation isn't unique to this town - pretty much every park I can remember visiting in the UK over the last twenty+ years has had similar pond populations.

It is a common passtime to take a bit of stale bread to the park to feed the ducks: I used to love doing it too, when I was a kid. A few people go completely over the top and come with whole sliced loaves (plural!) which they break up and throw to them. Of course a diet of bread (stale or not), crisps and other snacks is not too good for any of these birds. But they still eat a fair bit of it. They don't get it all though, which is where the rats come in. The overall result of this is awful water quality and the near elimination of most of the other wildlife (amphibians, waterplants etc).

In the past, there have been campaigns to try to educate people not to feed the ducks, but they simply waste money to no effect. There are also occasional attempts to control the numbers of geese (netting suitable nest sites, pricking eggs etc), and ducks (culling) but no-one is too happy about it and they typically end with letters in the local newspapers from outraged bird lovers.

The problems are discussed from time to time in the national trade magazines ("The Ranger" etc), but since my job doesn't directly cover these parks, I only get a few sidelines on it when I'm in the office.

If you have got any comments or suggestions I would be interested to hear them - My colleagues would be even more so.

[Thais]

So the problem is not the ducks at all, really, it's the people who insist on feeding them bread (probably white without much nurition for man nor beast).

OK - do they put up notices saying "Please do not feed the ducks - it is bad for them"? Do they have stalls where they sell food that would be better for the ducks? Do they make any effort to distribute leaflets that explain why feeding the ducks is bad for them & the environment? Do they publish any articles in the local newspaper explaining the whys & wherefores of all this? Surely it's not that difficult to educate the public?

[natterjack]

Originally Posted by Thaïs

So the problem is not the ducks at all, really, it's the people who insist on feeding them bread (probably white without much nurition for man nor beast).

OK - do they put up notices saying "Please do not feed the ducks - it is bad for them"? Do they have stalls where they sell food that would be better for the ducks? Do they make any effort to distribute leaflets that explain why feeding the ducks is bad for them & the environment? Do they publish any articles in the local newspaper explaining the whys & wherefores of all this? Surely it's not that difficult to educate the public?

1 Yup, it the soggy white rubbery stuff. And yes it is the people.

2 Signs a) have no noticable positive effect b) get torn down/vandalised by not only the usual yobs, but by "bird lovers" too c) are contrary to current thinking on cluttering the place up with prohibitory notices everywhere.

3 Selling food may be better for the ducks than the bread, but doesn't help the greater issue of the pond as a whole (and would invalidate any other action to get people to stop).

4 Leaflets have been tried - they're only practical for the smaller 'local' parks, and have at best a very temporary effect.

5 The rangers have written articles for the Borough Council's own newspaper (distributed to every home in the town) but if they focus only on this or similar issues, they get told it's too negative and they won't publish it. The only way to get it in is to add it as a side issue to something else, which they do occasionally (you can't do it too often). Maybe it has an effect, maybe not.

Don't think I don't appreciate the suggestions, but quite a few people have been working on this issue for a good long while

[LeeP]

Hi toad,
I don't know where to start. This is huge. But first...


Friend Thais,
Signs don't work, and I'm not sure they should. Feeding ducks is often the first, the only, and the most common contact that children and many adults have with "wildlife". People who feed ducks often treat other animals well and even work for their benefit. We want that tribe to increase. The best thing is to control the situation. Let's encourage anything that teaches children (and grown-ups, too) that it feels better to help an animal than to hurt one.


Now back to the pond problems. I have some questions so I can get the picture properly.
1. Are there resident ducks who do not or cannot (dumped farm or pet ducks) fly away? Do some mallards fly in and become resident (just don't leave)?
2. These ponds sound too small to support even one pair of swans. Am I getting the wrong picture?
3. Where in the world did you get Canada geese? We have them creating problems here, but we brought it on ourselves. They were bred for hunting.
4. Where do the rats come from? The only rats we have at our duck ponds are muskrats, and they are a necessary part of the pond ecology.


Must go. Back ASAP.


Lee

[LeeP]

To continue...

5. I'm trying to get at where all these ducks come from. Did they fly in and stay? Were they dumped by people? Did resident ducks reproduce?


Back ASAP.


Lee