In this corner, Mauler Mallard

This happened on Friday, it started innocently enough. I was standing near one of the ponds here, I was actually watching the geese, who will make a special guest appearance later in this post, hoping the geese would take flight, and I would be able to get some good shots of them taking off. There was a small flock of mallards sharing the pond with the geese, and I noticed that there was suddenly a lot of quacking going on.  I shifted the camera from the geese to the mallards, and saw two males face to face, jawing at each other.

Mallards squaring off for the main event

I couldn’t tell if they were actually touching each other or not, if not, they were very close to one another as the quacking grew in intensity.

Male mallards squaring off for the main event

Then wings began to flail, and the fight was on!

Male mallards winging it out

The two of them started chasing each other around in a circle….

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Two male mallards in the ring of death

I don’t know how many times they went around in circles, I was getting dizzy just watching them. They were using their wings as paddles, and you can see they were throwing up a pretty good wake!

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Around and around they went…

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Two male mallards in the ring of death

They were creating quite a ruckus, between the quacking, their beating their wings on the water, and all the splashing going on.

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Two male mallards in the ring of death

It was a fight of epic proportions…

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Two male mallards in the ring of death

Then one caved in, and tried to escape…

The chase is on!

The other, hot on his tail!

The chase is on!

The chase is on!

Those ducks can really scoot!

The chase is on!

The chase is on!

As you watch the chase and the fight continue, keep an eye on the geese as well.

The chase is on!

The chase is on!

The chasing duck went all submarine on the duck trying to escape!

The chase is on!

And popped up to deliver the dreaded butt bite. Notice one goose is watching intently, the other two are paying no attention at all, one is even getting a drink as all this is going on.

The chase is on!

The chase is off!

That looked like the end of it, what with the dreaded butt bite having been delivered, but the loser must have quacked one last insult as it was swimming away, for the winner lit out for the loser at full tilt again.

The chase is back on again!

The loser, knowing his goose was cooked, took to the air to prevent the humiliation of a second butt bite.

The chase is on!

The chase is over.

This time, the loser had enough sense to keep his bill shut, and it was all over except for the winner taking a bow.

The winner takes a bow.

That about wraps this one up, but stay tuned, for coming up later we’ll have a naked cardinal taking a bath…

Northern Cardinal bathing

…..and you won’t want to miss another exciting feature coming soon, when birds soar!

Red-tailed hawk

Thanks for stopping by!