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Author Topic: Carnivorous ducks??  (Read 597 times)

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Offline gunnstack

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Carnivorous ducks??
« on: April 27, 2004, 12:14:58 PM »
Hi Guys.  This is an odd one.  I have plenty of practice shooting starlings sparrows and the odd magpie which come down for a free feed when I feed the ducks.  I fed the ducks as normal this morning and waited for the flock to arrive.  I snapped off a shot at a sparrow which fell to the ground wounded.  The next thing one of the ducks grabbed it, gave it a fair old thrashing, dunked it the pond a few times to moisten it up for good measure and proceeded to eat it!!  I thought ducks were vegetarian not carnivorous.  I have seen a chook eat a half dead mouse but ducks!!  Anyone ever seen this sort of thing before?
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Offline Chris

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Carnivorous ducks??
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2004, 06:44:14 PM »
Heck, my dog will eat collard greens...if he gets hungry enough!   :-D

...Chris  :D
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Offline rzwieg

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Carnivorous ducks??
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2004, 07:18:49 PM »
Maybe you have muscovy ducks? A.K.A pato? They're not true ducks. I've seen muscovies (carbunculed heads) eat baby rats like candy.
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Offline gunnstack

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Carnivorous ducks
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2004, 09:19:08 PM »
Nope- the beggar that took the sparrow was a pure bred Khaki Campbell. I was about to finish him off with a bit of 4x2 when I spotted what was happening.  I know ducks will clear the garden of slugs, snails etc. yeah OK they are partly carnivorous- but sparrows?  I just had a thought- I have seen ducks kill the odd duckling which does not correspond to their own form and colouring or particular call so maybe thats the answer.  I don't think that after the dunking the sparrow got he was up to doing much calling- he did change colour a bit though.
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Offline Dand

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« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2004, 10:27:00 PM »
Don't know if this quite qualifies as "carnivorous" but Alaskan teal and mallards gobble up salmon eggs in the fall.  Poor eating too - I began to cook up 2 beautiful mallards and ran all the guys out of our bunkhouse.  Could only choke down a couple bites myself.

And we once shot 2 teal that appeared to be feeding on dead, spawned out salmon.  Man were they nasty and covered in slime.  The dog rolled on them instead of retrieving them.  We left them for the foxes.
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Offline thedeester1

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Carnivorous ducks??
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2004, 01:55:54 PM »
Not really the same thing but a swan killed 2 dogs here last week, then a group of them "pack hunted" a small child like wolves.(child was saved by passers by luckily). Maybe water Fowl society is on the same slippery slide as humanity?
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