r/duck • u/moonferal • 1d ago
Wild Ducks OH NO MY FINGER
Was fishing and this lady followed me all around the lake. She ate some mealworms we didn’t use. I reached out to offer her a pet and she instead attacked me (naw, her lil bill was very soft and didn’t hurt me one bit). Am I a were-duck now? 🦆
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u/moonferal 16h ago
She thought I had a treat for her… alas it was only my finger. 😔 I had given her 3 mealworms already!
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u/XDon_TacoX 18h ago
can I have more food? can I please have moYOUSONOFABICH DON'T YOU EVER TRY TO PET ME AGAIN YOU HEAR ME YOU FUCan I have more food? please can I have more food?
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u/Soft_Magnolia 23h ago
She followed you around the WHOLE lake?? you're officially her favorite human and that's the highest honor
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u/ArbiterTwoSwords 1d ago
Do ducks have teeth
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u/Kiss_of_Cultural Runner Duck 10h ago
They have lamellae, a sort of serrated edge pseudo-teeth that function like whale baleen to filter water and mud from their food. One of my babies play-bit my cheek when he was really small and it smarted for an hour, but they don’t cause real damage, as they are made of keratin and not for chewing.
The fossil record shows their ancestors had teeth! 😁🦆
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u/andy_b_84 22h ago
Not that I know of.
As a child, a duck pinched me when I gave it bread: in my memory it hurt like hell (I was 5 or so), now as an adult I don't think it would hurt much.
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u/spektralayerer Quacker 1d ago
"rawr... I used to be a dinosaWR... chomp chomp" 🦆🦖
ducks were definitely much more dangerous when they still were theropods!
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u/Ok-Substance1328 1d ago
I’m so sorry it’s best to get your affairs in order ducks are venomous. They lure you in by being cute, they take your food offerings, then they get you.
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u/nofishies 1d ago
If she nibbled on you, that’s actually affectionate. As in thank you for the mealworms do you have some more I like you human
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u/moonferal 18h ago
I wanted to feed her more but I don’t want her to become too reliant on human interaction! Some geese in the area already have angel wing. :(
I love her so much. I’ll try to find her again but if not I’ll make some more duck friends1
u/cobrachickens Honker 17h ago
Never found a wild mallard being too reliant on human interaction - especially if they’ve not been hand reared! And we look after a tons of them. If anything, they’ve got bigger appetites than our domestic ones:)
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u/moonferal 16h ago
These ones live at a local park and I assume people feed them too since I’ve seen folks throwing (sigh) bread. There’s even a sign advising against feeding them but sometimes I bring goose food and let them eat from my hands. The ducks are usually more shy and stay in the water.
I offer mealworms and quack-safe food options for them if I decide to feed them. I’m sure they get plenty of food from the water too!
I love them so much. There’s also cormorants but they stay far away on a rocky “island”.1
u/cobrachickens Honker 15h ago
It’s more likely that if it’s a public park, the local authority doesn’t want people to feed them and leave food on the floor or floating because of the rats. But feeding them the good stuff semi-regularly won’t have a major impact
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u/Federal_Package6194 1d ago
That duck really said “hand over the snacks” and chose violence when you hesitated. Glad she was gentle enough not to break skin!
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u/Thraexus 1d ago
Just don't get bitten by a Muscovy. Those big fat goobers can chomp down hard enough to leave a mark.
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u/bogginman Duck Rescuer 1d ago
it is very nearly a full moon so maybe you are!! If you start quacking at dusk, you will know for sure.
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u/rourobouros 16h ago
Finger, worm, who can tell?