Now that I’ve got your attention…
Walking on the path alongside Cooksville Creek where it flows into Lake Ontario, I spotted 2 ducks. It looked like a male and female mating, with the male on top, his tail feathers furiously pumping, splashing. A feathery shag, I thought.
Then I noticed the male on top was being very hostile. He kept pecking the other’s head and pushing their head underwater. Looked like rowdy sex, or a rough duck fuck. There was another guy on the shore, watching with binoculars. I was feeling embarrassed for them.
After watching further, I realized that the one on the bottom was also a male and that this was a fight, and the top was winning and trying to drown the bottom. There was a lot of splashing and quacking, with the performance moving out into the open lake, when a 3rd male showed up. But other than a few pecks and pushes, and a lot of quacking, he was mostly just watching. He was a bystander.
Finally, the aggressive top succeeded in drowning the other, who just sank. The victor swam around a few circles just to make sure of the other’s death, then reared up out of the water, flapped his wings, and let out one huge quack.
Then he swam back towards the shore, looking straight into my eye – proud as punch, like he was going to take me on next!
I always thought that ducks were very gentle and timid. On my walks along the shore, I often hear the soft, murmurous quacking here and there, usually between a male and female pair. Maybe they’re just having a quiet, domestic conversation. Today I was surprised to see this violent display and I wondered if it was ideological, religious or political division that brought about this brutality.
I guess ducks are just like humans.
***
The photos below are mostly from my 52frames project, with another few just thrown in. The challenges are in brackets after each caption.
[Click on any photo for the slideshow. Please leave comments at the bottom of the page]
May 31, 2022 at 12:50 pm
You’re probably right, Len. But maybe it was just two gay ducks having a spat.
May 31, 2022 at 3:12 pm
haha!
May 31, 2022 at 1:28 pm
These are great Len! I particularly like Reflections of History and The Path. I was sorry to hear about the duck though. You didn’t go in and save him??
May 31, 2022 at 3:13 pm
It’s best not to get involved with vicious ducks.
May 31, 2022 at 10:10 pm
You just have to duck if they come after you!
May 31, 2022 at 2:21 pm
Thanks for posting. Great photos! You are very good at choosing a title for them. So creative! Your rough duck fuck story made me lol. Sad endingthough.
May 31, 2022 at 3:13 pm
Actually, Cathy, I wrote poems for most of these pics and the poem title became the caption. Very sad watching him get beat up then drowned.
May 31, 2022 at 6:33 pm
Some fabulous photos Len, especially The Path. But I may never be the same after looking up your leg in The Spin.”!
I’m very upset about the duck story – I don’t feel so bad that I ate one last week now.
May 31, 2022 at 7:32 pm
Hey Peter, if looking up my leg got you all excited, I really don’t want to know what my nude selfie (Risky Exposure) did to you.
May 31, 2022 at 9:25 pm
Len, great photos. Who is is the person in photo 5?
The Storm photo is amazing!
“Happy to be alive” really captures the mood of the photo.
May 31, 2022 at 10:07 pm
My daughter, Dani
May 31, 2022 at 10:10 pm
You just have to duck if they come after you!