You say, “there’s a Shocker! Mallard who has not seen? There they are in the Park of a thousand pieces go begging for bread! Get up off the couch and look for something more interesting!”
And I answer that if the pictures are mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) to make interesting difficult, because they are really a dime a dozen in the essay on the Mallard still need to write. Out of respect. Plus, if such images are available, what they keep in the table? And from a biological point of view, they are no worse than other types.
Much of the poetry I want to write about it, but do not know how. In the end, their image engraved on the piece the guns used in scenic subjects to build monuments…
And to the point, frankly. First, it is one of the most beautiful ducks in the world.
Secondly, it is one of the most prosperous types, despite severe hunting pressure. That even this combat veteran of the battles passed through air defenses and lost their feet, proudly treads the world’s remaining flippers. And now resting.
And thirdly, the Mallard is the ancestor of most domestic ducks. That is, its value in agriculture is difficult to overestimate.
Fourth, originally upholstered povsemestno in the Northern hemisphere, the Mallard was introduced in the southern hemisphere, particularly in Australia, New Zealand and South America, where he settled down and has become… a threat, more invasive form, that is in violation of the local ecology. Of course, such a large and prolific bird is able to push other native species. This once again suggests that the man with his short-sighted understanding of the universe it would be worthwhile to sit down and limit his influence on the creation of their unwise activities.
The population of mallards at his “tecalote” is very different. Urban ducks are almost tame and often lead a sedentary lifestyle, but povsemestno living wild counterparts remain permanently wild.
They are perfectly adapted to the changed world and use this fact usefully. Broods sometimes they do 2-3 times per year, and 10 Chicks in a brood is not the limit.
In addition, mallards are very plastic in food selection, and are essentially omnivorous, eating both vegetable food and animal, including swallowing Telecom frogs.
Of course, to photograph krakusa in the Park uninteresting. But if you can meet those ducks in the land, somewhere on a forest river or lake, they become very beautiful goal.
It is interesting what else can you say about a duck? This is one of the largest ducks, drakes before flights which can reach 2 kg body weight. In addition, when the mallards fly to the southern regions (if you do), they climb very, very high : there were cases when mallards were recorded at an altitude of over 6000 meters!!! 6 kilometers, Karl!!! Sexual deformity – expressed clearly, but the young drakes until their first molt prizrachnoe painted like a duck. And in these months, males can be recognized by its bright yellow beak, while the female’s beak is painted in brown and gray tones.
It is also noteworthy that around the end of may, a period of complete molt. Drakes in this period to form same-sex flocks and depart in cane lining, where holed up to complete change of the pen, because on some days, they even lose the ability to fly, and it lasts 3 weeks.
Females who are busy with Chicks – molt later, together with embarked on the wing Chicks, and females that were not occupied by broods for some reason, shed simultaneously with the drakes.
Hunters and naturalists also makes sense to know what pairs of mallards are formed only until the moment when a duck sits on the nest. After that, the female chases the male. She lays one egg a day, and it builds the nest in the process of hatching, and down she plucks from your chest (tearing hair, in other words).
In the same period, stops the activity of the oil gland of a duck, thanks to which different grease for lubrication of the feathers to make them waterproof. This is in order to fat from the duck tail not occlude the pores of the shell and are not deprived of respiration in developing eggs of Chicks, and also because the allocated fat secret has a smell, its presence could attract predators to the nest, so stop the activity of this gland plays an important role from the point of view of security walls.
The incubation period lasts a little less than a month and two months old the Chicks already are on the wing.
Despite the watchful care of a duck on the offspring survival of mallards is very low, as masonry often ruined grey crows, Harriers, foxes, raccoon dogs, and Chicks are often killed for the same reasons.
As compensation mallards have become very prolific birds and as a result, their number is more than half of the total population of waterfowl of all types. Also not devoid of curiosity the fact that Mallard, as the representative of a family of river ducks Anas is a relatively young, evolutionary development which is still in the process, and thus this species is able to interbreed with some related species to form hybrids.
In General, the monument definitely!
