Muscovy Ducks

We live in Fort Lauderdale (South Florida) where Muscovy ducks are plentiful and we live by the water. A male with various females have established their 12th nest in our yard over the past three years. They might not be the cutest birds at first sight, but like anything else, you grow to like what you grow to know. These animals are fascinating and actually very cute. Their behavior to some extent reminds of human beings (agressivity, tenderness, difference in personality, etc...). While duck sex looks like rape, our male is actually very thoughtful towards his females, he guards the nest, kisses them often etc... Babies are beyond cute the very day they are born but many die within 2-3 weeks (the survival rate is approximately 20%). They need their mother for protection only because they can eat and swim the day they are born. The female lays usually one egg per day in a nest always in a very secluded part of the yard. We noticed that the male suggests the location of the nest to the female who decides if she agrees. You can get near a nest but never within reaching distance: a cold spell that defoliated our hibiscuses exposed one nest that was readily abandoned! She starts sitting on the nest only after she has laid 10-15 or sometimes up to 25 eggs. A brood is usually 10-17 ducklings - the rest does not hatch-. Once you get to know them it is easy to spot what is going on in their life because their behavior changes drastically as they mate, as they sit on the nest, as the babies are born etc... Each phase corresponds to a very different attitude and even the noise they make. The ducklings are raised by their mother only. If the mother gets to know you, you can grab a duckling (they are very silky) and release it. At first she will scream but she quickly gets used to it. Males are much larger than females and they grow that red skin on their face which females do not. Males hiss and females tend to clock more like a chicken than a duck “quack”. The females will quack when they are being chased or bitten by another duck (to establish pecking order). Our male –pioupiou- is very mallow and quite a gentle duck but some males can be aggressive. In 3 years that I have observed them, they never attacked us contrary to what some people claim. If you stand your ground, they are afraid of you and will readily take off if you chase them.