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I stopped on the roadside around noon and watched maybe 1000 pintails feeding. The closest birds were about 10 yards from my truck and they just sat there paying me no mind.

I watched them for a while, and noticed a drake and a hen get up and then land again, the drake about 20 yards from the hen. They landed amongst hundreds of other ducks and I noticed that as soon as the hen landed, she was immediately surrounded by 7 or 8 drakes. They followed her around for a minute until the her boyfriend showed up. All of the drakes were bobbing their heads up and down, but as soon as the pair rejoined, they quit bobbing. Some type of courting ritual I guess.

I noticed other drakes bobbing their heads when they would get around a hen, and then quit bobbing when the hen left.

Pretty weird; I've never seen that before.

sounds like it is time to get it on they were prolly teaching each other how to dodge steel shot and heavy shot.....i know the few i shot at the other day were damn good at dodging my shot i know it wasnt my shooten.....i swear

musta been sum "spanish-fly" in that there water

I have also read that pintails pull each others white out so they dont look as good to the hens , ducks are a strange animal when it comes to breedin...

Prolly,
Hunted right across the street from where your tlking about. We shot one each and watched from 7:10 to about 7:30 Pintails circling two feilds. We captured one of the best pictures I have ever seen. Tueday the moon was full and those Pintails circled with the white towards us right through the moon going down. Pretty Neat.


Until Next Time
Eli Delta

Eli, I thought you were coming this weekend?

Water's dropping fast; I don't know if the birds are still in the place I was telling you about.

I PM'd you today. I over Tuesday and tried to call but could not get any service. I wanted to take you guys to Trio Pepe's in Marks. I guess Im going to hang it up for the season and try to get some stuff around the house done. I want to get together for the Catfish Shin Dig. I can't get you on your cell phone PM me.


Eli

With mallards, the head bobbing is a prelude to you know what. Earlier this month we had a pair light in the decoys and we were waiting on the rest to follow. I had the video camera on them and they started the head bobbing, 30 seconds later he was going to town. Later that morning I saw another pair that was on the water out of range start the bob and I filmed them too. They do the bob, hunch, then the greenhead jumps off and swims in a circle down low in the water like an escaping cripple, while the hen shakes off the water. Both pair do the exact same thing.
We killed the first greenhead after I filmed them and when we picked him up he was still "at attention", well hanging low. Guess he died happy.
I wish I could transfer the video to the computer.

Did that duck still have a smile on his face?

I have seen 11 pintails flying very close to each other, I mean wadded up on top of each other. It was 2 hens and 9 drakes - the drakes were fighting for position in the air to be right behind the hens. They were cackling at each other and pecking at each other in the air so when the hen finally landed, the drake directly behind her could mount up.
I guess if you want the good stuff, you gotta be in the right position

As others have said, IT'S TIME TO GET IT ON!!!!!!!!! That time of the year for DUCKS!!!!!

yep, the "rut" is on it sounds like...i have sat and watched ruddy ducks and shovelers bob their head up and down until i thought they were gonna fall off...its an awesome thing, watchin ducks during breeding season...

when we would flush a hen off her nest, she couldnt fly 10 yards before her mate or a group of 8 - 10 harrassing drakes were on their tail...made me think of the movie, top gun...watchin those things fly so close to each other and at such fast speeds

i think if i was the lead drake in the pack, i would just "drop a little load" in the rest of their faces...bet that would getem off my tail

'Wingman'.....if you go to a popular college-town pub.....you'll witness the same behavior. Ya know.......A hen gets-up from the bar stool .......walks across the room .......and all the eligible drakes' heads bob up and down. Funny, huh?

great way to describe it Anat!

I'd rather see them bobbing on a lanyard ! Thanks to The Man Upstairs for the blessed abundance of pintail this season!