From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Tue Jun 15 21:24:45 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i5G4MOsH022099 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 15 Jun 2004 21:22:25 -0700 (PDT) Received: from rwcrmhc12.comcast.net (rwcrmhc12.comcast.net [216.148.227.85]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i5G4LHQC022060 for <[[email protected]]>; Tue, 15 Jun 2004 21:21:18 -0700 (PDT) Received: from 204.127.197.115 ([204.127.197.115]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc12) with SMTP id <2004061604214601400btn92e>; Wed, 16 Jun 2004 04:21:46 +0000 Received: from [24.6.248.198] by 204.127.197.115; Wed, 16 Jun 2004 04:21:46 +0000 From: [[email protected]] To: [[email protected]] (SBB Chat Group) Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 04:21:46 +0000 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Mailer: AT&T Message Center Version 1 (May 18 2004) X-Authenticated-Sender: YmlyZGVybW9tQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0 Subject: [SBB] Ruddy Ducks do make noise! X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5b1 Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Hi! Just a quick note about two male Ruddy Ducks (in full breeding plumage) I saw today at the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant near the pump station. As I walked by these two ducks, one started with an odd behavior which was soon copied by the other and repeated over and over until they had slowly drifted towards one another. Soon they quit and swam off happily together. The noise/behavior was as follows: While neck was extended with beak pointed down near chest, duck tapped water hard, then scooped water up and out, each time making a repeated rhythmical "ch, ch..." sound. They did this behavior 8-10 times in a row. Next, duck made distinctive "boink" sound while bobbing head up, then down followed by a short rest period. Process repeated itself for about 5-10 minutes. The whole process at first sounded like a warning sound, but after they finished, they swam quite close to me without a care. Then, I thought it might be part of a breeding display, but where were the females? Lastly, I thought they might be practicing their calls with one another, or a father teaching a son, or something like that. Do you have any idea what this behavior would achieve? Thanks, Jean Myers _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]