This week’s bird of the week is the Pacific Black Duck. We have seen relatively few of these in Australia, but they are not uncommon. However, the reason this duck bobbed to the surface is a singular, meaningful encounter my wife Deb and I had this past weekend at Mount Buffalo National Park.
We were preparing our picnic dinner on the shores of Lake Catani at Mount Buffalo. Looking towards the lake, I was arrested by the site of a duck beetling over from the other side of the lake and heading straight for us.
Morgan Free-Duck, the name Deb was to give our duck companion, settled on the ground to join our picnic. Here I need to add the important message, that in general one should avoid feeding wildlife of all types. We usually do ourselves, but for Morgan F. we made an exception.
It was easy to make an exception for Morgan F. because this was an exceptional duck. He or she didn’t beg for food, or honk or anything. Morgan just hung around quietly, happy for whatever scraps came his way.
It was a gorgeous night on the lake, and the 3 of us greatly enjoyed each-others company –me, my wife and the duck. As you’ll see, the Pacific Black Duck features a handsome eye-stripe, a beautiful sheen on the secondary feathers, and in fact, a greenish bill. And a pleasant personality – well, I can only speak for Morgan F. He represented the Pacific Black Duck tribe well.
As we packed up, we warned Morgan F. that we were leaving. He wandered toward the lake a bit but then came back up to the picnic table quietly, wandering around as ducks do. It wasn’t until we closed the car doors and looked back, and saw Morgan F. flying across the lake from whence he came, obviously realizing this night’s picnic was over.
