The unfortunate grey wagtail is swallowed almost whole
A mallard duck closes in on a fledgling black redstart
Posted on 07/03/2017 2:12:35 PM PDT by ETL
Zoologist Silviu Petrovan of the University of Cambridge was birdwatching at a reservoir in Romania when he spotted a flock of mallards hunting a fledgling that had landed on the water.
A female duck grabbed the grey wagtail in her beak, dunked it several times beneath the water, then ate it, Petrovan says. A black redstart landed soon after and "was almost instantaneously attacked" by 10 juveniles, per the study in the journal Waterbirds.
Though mallards in California have been sighted munching on sand crabs, the ducks usually eat plants, insects, and the occasional small fish. As far as scientists can tell, such predatory behavior not involving fish or amphibians has never been seen before.
It's not only "very rare" but also likely a new phenomenon, says Petrovan, noting mallards have "not ... really evolved" to digest bones and feathers. "The mallard was massively struggling to eat that wagtail, presumably because it couldn't actually tear it to pieces" due to the design of its bill.
So why would a duck eat a bird at all? Petrovan suggests "pressure for those fast-growing juveniles to get animal protein intake."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
A mallard duck closes in on a fledgling black redstart
Romania? Must be Gypsy ducks.
I have seen Bass eat ducklings.
I LOVE wild duck. Grew up in a hunting family and can pick a carcass clean. Watched for the ‘bird shot’, tho. Can break teeth.
Hungry for one, now.
There is a reason they are called wild animals. The media like to portray an idealistic socialist system among the animals. The harsh reality is a constant struggle of survival.
From the 2nd source I linked to (BBC)...
Dr Silviu Petrovan noticed the unusual behaviour of a group of mallards while he was out bird watching with friends near a national park in southwest Romania.
He saw the adult female duck grab the grey wagtail in her beak, and repeatedly submerge it in the water, before eventually eating it.
A second bird - a fledgling black redstart - then landed in the water, where it was chased by juvenile mallard ducks.
“The poor bird landed on the water and was screaming and trying to navigate itself out of danger,” said Dr Petrovan. “Then it was almost instantaneously attacked by the mallards.”
The bird eventually disappeared - assumed to be drowned or consumed.
The scientists could find no record of mallard bird predation in the scientific literature, which suggests such behaviour is both “very rare” and newly-learned.
“The mallard was massively struggling to eat that wagtail, presumably because it couldn’t actually tear it to pieces because the bill is flattened - it’s not designed for ripping prey apart,” said Dr Petrovan.
“Digesting bones and feathers - that’s not something that mallards have really evolved to do.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40445379
In the wilderness, everything is fair game.
Mother Nature does not say, “Awwwwwww...”.
The trouble is we grow up with anthropomorphised animals in popular culture and thus we get the animal rights nuts saying we are all equal species but the food chain rebels against that idea.
Stupid scientists haven’t been around ducks or geese much
carcass!
Two fledglings made it out of my courtyard yesterday.
Two Robins spooked by me and lived on the patio furniture until momma got them the courage to get to the roof.
They were funny at first, flying into walls. They relaxed and got their strength. It was neat to watch from a distance.
BFL
The Squawking Dead
The infection has arrived.
Ducks are carnivores. While they eat plants too. They love bugs, fish, worms, frogs, and any other small things they can grab. Their bills are serrated. So even though they have no actual teeth, those bills can hold prey. And in the ccase of fish they can turn a fish around in their bills so it goes down head first.
Also, ducks are mean. They will attack each other if new ducks arrive at a pond. When one duck wants to dominate another, they will grab a wing shoulder and try to dunk the other duck, holdings head under water. Many times they will gang up on a new duck, attacking him, even killing him if he can’t get away.
This is normal mallard behavior especially in the fall amongst unattached ducks gathering to fly south.
Watch out, they are about to evolve back into T-Rex. All bets are off then.
Well if someone saw what chickens do, they might not eat them anymore.
I saw chickens eat frogs, fried chicken scraps and baby chicks, among other things when I was on the farm.
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