I know I shouldn’t think of them like they are human but sometimes I just cannot help it. Therefore, sometimes I become disappointed. When we left for our vacation in Canada, we had one brown lady muscovey that was sitting on five or six eggs on our porch. When we returned she was missing and we had to throw away the eggs. Muscoveys make excellent mothers so that was out of character. We were troubled because we thought something had happened to her.
Then we saw her. Now all of our ducks have been white, silver, and light brown. They have been inbreeding for three or four years. There is no way to do an IQ test on a duck and they are not likely to develop the nosebleeds that I understand result from inbreeding. They don’t really have noses. I knew this one was not one of ours from his looks. I took to calling him the Tall Dark Stranger.
Our male ducks fight. I am sure each wants to father the next generation of pale ducks. This one is different. I half expect to hear the voice of Marty Robbins singing “stranger with the big gun on his hip”. The other male ducks do not mess with him. Where this picture was taken is a frequent site of fights but they all leave him alone
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If you search Google for Muscovey Duck you will probably get a picture that looks much like him. He is black but there is green showing through. The face is white with, of course a bright red caruncle. He is a little smaller than our males but he is leaner and the only male on the property that can fly.
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If you search Google for Muscovey Duck you will probably get a picture that looks much like him. He is black but there is green showing through. The face is white with, of course a bright red caruncle. He is a little smaller than our males but he is leaner and the only male on the property that can fly.
So this fickle nest sitter is following her tall dark stranger everywhere he goes, the male ducks do not mess with him, and I, frankly do not understand. Or, perhaps I do. As you can see from this picture, he strolls right on by Mr. Goose without looking back. Being physically very fit and possessing a large amount of daring might be enough to account for his appeal.
He obviously cares little for authority. The other end of this rope is attached to the head of ranch security who is a 65 pound Australian Shepard named Bob. That and his disregard for the goose qualify as daring to me.
Now things are getting serious. This is the tall dark stranger and his lady love on the porch. A stranger who comes this close to ranch headquarters obviously knows no fear.
This easy manner with all things does tend to make me uneasy. If he figures out how to open the door I just may take Sally and leave. Indy just looks through the door and whines uneasily. It's the first time I've thought seriously about a condo. I do not think that Condos have ducks. I will keep you posted.
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