Strange Mallard Behaviour

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'Gramps'
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Spotted this female Mallard behaving a little oddly after coming to rest on a grassed area.
No idea what's going on here, she didn't lay any eggs ... eggbound maybe ... any ideas?

 
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I don't think she's egg bound mate,tricky to say the least with 16seconds of footage from one angle. Roger egg binding oft occurs early in season and in the laying cycle. Ie mum might struggle with the first egg but later she lays easier. They say cold can effect this aspect of laying as well. i've actually put dux in a warm bath to get them through this. If she was bound I'd expect her to be swollen at the back and and hunched up....neck in feathers more elivated than normal straining maybe visable.... you'ld look at as a bird not quite right buddy you would be aware she's sick maybe not why . On holding them one can oft feel the egg.

This i'm unsure of, the flicking I've seen many times loads of mallard and their domestic counterparts do it BUT it's normally alternate wings not both together like your vid. I haven't a clue why the flicking occurs maybe something to do with moving flies on like twitchy ears in deer or horses tails?? Without picking her up and giving her a once over I'm really stumped here Roger i've actually waited a couple of days to see if anyone else had any musings for you which might have jogged something in my mind. Thing is mate the mallard ladies take such a hammering at this time of year,as you well know, maybe this is linked into that.

Buddy was it hot? It doesn't look to be but if it was that might be part of the story although i'd expect something else to be going on as well.

i'm pretty much stumped mate,i've seen one hell of a lot of differnt problems, you do when you work with huge numbers. But this isn't really ringing any bells at all. My lass has had a look too she can't come up with anything either :(

stu
 
Thanks Stu ... not really hot, though she had recently come out of the water.
Here's a bit more footage, just before she got up and flew off ...

 
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