Fast Facts About Ducks and Geese I Bet You Didn’t Know

Posted on November 02, 2016, 7:55 pm
5 mins

By: Hannah Riggs

 

Bet you don’t know all of these facts about waterfowl

GETTIN’ ON UP THERE:
Weighing in at 35 pounds, the Trumpeter Swan is the heaviest waterfowl species out there. For ducks, in particular, the heaviest in the Northern Hemisphere is the common eider.

WHISTLIN’ AWAY:
Barrows Goldeneyes are often called whistlers due to the noise their wings make. On cold and windless days, this whistling of their wings can be heard up to half a mile away.

NEST SWAP:
Many species of waterfowl lay their eggs in the nests of other females. Some even go as far as laying their eggs in the nests of female waterfowl of another species. The hens of these nests Usually never notice, and raise the eggs as their own. This occurs most commonly with redheads, wood ducks, ruddy ducks, hooded mergansers, and snow geese.

TWISTER ALERT:
3,000 ducks passed away on a seven-mile stretch in Arkansas in January of 1999 due to severe hailstorms and a tornado.

SURFER DUCKS:
Scoters get their names from the way they “scoot” across breaking waves to get food offshore.

WHERE ARE MY DRAKES:
Hunters in Northern states only get an average of two drake mallards to every hen, while hunters in the south get three or more drake mallards to every hen.

THE BABY SITTER’S CLUB:
For some waterfowl species, groups called “crèches” form to watch ducklings while the parents are away feeding. This occurs most commonly in lesser scaup, common eiders, and Canada geese.

DUCK DIVERS:
While all ducks can dive, some are better at it than others. The best diver of them all is the long-tailed duck with dives ranging all the way to 200 feet.

WATERFOWL MUSCLES:
All waterfowl have over 12,000 muscles they use for feather control alone. They use these muscles to control things like body heat, water diving, emotion, aggression, or sexual desires.

JUST CRUISN’ ALONG:
Waterfowl have flight speeds of 40 to 60 miles per hour. They are even capable of traveling 800 miles in an eight-hour flight.

THIRD IS A CHARM:
African Magpies have one male and two female birds in one nest to share incubation responsibilities.

SKY DIVING DUCKS:
Barnacle geese nest 150 feet high to escape from predators. When the babies hatch, they freefall onto the ground or into the sea below them. Since they are so light and fluffy, they can absorb the impact of the fall without causing any harm.

SQUIRREL ATTACK:
The Franklin ground squirrel can be one of the most vicious predators to duck eggs. They steal one egg a day over a period of days. One study in Canada showed that squirrels killed 19% of duck eggs in the area.

FAT AS A FEATHER:
Waterfowl’s feathers make up 1/6 of their total body weight.

LATE BLOOMERS:
Hen mallards molt during the late fall and early winter. They molt to a darker brown color which helps camouflage them in the spring for nesting.

SPEEDWAY:
One red-breasted merganser, being pursued by an airplane, hit a top speed of 200 miles per hour.

EXTINCT:
The Labrador Duck is the only known extinct species in North America. Its extinction in 1875 is not believed to be caused by hunters, but instead new predators, changes in breeding grounds, or changes in food supply.

IT’S RAINING DUCKS:
In Stuttgart, Arkansas in 1973, reports of hundreds of ducks raining from the sky occurred. The ducks damaged several cars and were believed to have been hit by hail which caused them to fall. Other ducks, however, were covered with ice when they fell, so they suspect they were caught up in a high enough altitude that ice covered their entire bodies.

GOOD TO SEE YOU MY OLD FRIEND:
The Michigan Department of Conservation caught the same black duck drake 18 times over nine years. Originally banded as an adult in 1949, the last time it was caught was in 1958.

GREYHEADS:
A study of 1,700 redheads in Texas concluded that the gray in the ducks heads were a sign of the ducks age.

*All facts courtesy of ducks.org*