Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Helping Out a Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos)

With all the sad stories recently, here is a happy one. So on 4/30/2014, my neighbors saw a Mallard Duck (Anas platyrhynchos) drop into my yard. Then the duck was just flapping its wings, and started running in circles. I was about to call animal control, but after closer inspection, I saw that the duck was tangled up in some fishing line on the end of its wing. The duck must have gotten tangled up in some fishing line, tried to get loose but got tangled up in my yard as it flew by.

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This is a photo of the duck after we cut it loose. I was in a rush to free the wildlife, that grabbing my camera didn't even occur when I saw it. 

Another 2 photos of the duck before we let it go. 

After we let it go, it hesitated for a few seconds, looked at us, checked its wing, and then slowly walked over and jumped in the pool. 


Here are photos of it swimming in the swimming pool. 

More photos of it swimming around the pool. 


Surprisingly, I managed to get a photo of the duck moving its head. I think this is quite a special ability of birds. I hear birds actually need to keep their eyes still (for a little bit longer) to see clearly as they walk and move around due to their wobble. This photo clearly shows the eyes perfectly still as the duck shook its head.  

More photos of the duck swimming in the pool. 


More photos of the duck swimming in the pool. 


More photos of the duck swimming in the pool. 

After around 30 to 40 minutes of swimming in my pool, the duck flew off. It didn't seem to be injured or anything. I guess it did feel some pain, but it was probably just slightly bruised. These are all the photos for today. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.