Garden guests & pests
Courtship rituals are on display as this oddly named duck enters its breeding season, but interlopers threaten, says LEONARD CRONIN
Roadkill is a major contributor to the decline of native animals, especially in rural and urban areas where the roads come close to wildlife habitats. I often see the sad results of vehicle collisions with frogs, reptiles, birds and marsupials. I now have a mental map of the collision hot spots, and approach these places with caution. There are always surprises, however, and one that brought a smile to my face was a delightful encounter with a mother Pacific black duck shepherding ducklings across the road. She flew into a panic as I approached, and her precious ducklings dashed around in all directions. Equanimity was soon restored, and the ducklings fell into line behind their mother to continue their purposeful journey across the road.
These ducks are now at the beginning of their breeding season, so this a good time to enjoy their courtship rituals. Demonstrating their fitness, drakes perform complex splashing and posturing displays for the females, who paddle brazenly up to chosen drakes and suddenly take to the air, pursued by desperately quacking suitors. Such provocative games can lead to aerial copulation, even though it is too early to mate. The bonds they form now will last until eggs are laid between June and December.
‘Black duck’ is a misnomer, as they are mostly brown, with a cream face sporting brown stripes. In urban areas you may see paler versions, which are likely the result of introduced mallards breeding with the native ducks. Mallards are more dominant, and depend on permanent waterways to breed. It is feared their genetic takeover will leave ‘mallardised’ flocks incapable of migrating and changing their breeding patterns in times of drought. To preserve the gene pool of our native ducks, it is vital that unwanted pet ducks are not dumped on local waterways.
Pacific black ducks are mainly vegetarian, mostly eating seeds of water plants. The sight of them upending their tails as they dabble in the shallows is very endearing. Small crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic insects are also taken, but bread, biscuits and other processed foods are detrimental to their health. Lettuce, spinach, alfalfa sprouts, budgie seed, worms and insects are suitable supplements.
Len gardens in the Northern Rivers, New South Wales