The Urban Pantheist

Wood duck Aix sponsa

I was walking through the wetland exhibit at the Children's Zoo today, and noticed that almost all of the ducks were away from the public viewing area, over by a feeding station. But this one wood duck was closer, and it did something I've never seen a wood duck do before. It swam closer to me. Wood ducks are generally pretty shy of humans, and in the wild you usually see them at a distance, or as they are swimming away. Even when you are feeding the ducks in a city park, the mallards swarm close, and the wood ducks (and buffleheads, and ruddy ducks etc.) stay far away. I pondered this for a minute, and then noticed the vending machine. A quarter buys a few food pellets to feed the duck, and this male wood duck was conditioned to notice when someone approached the machine--he also noticeably reacted when he heard the sound of the vending machine crank.

The wood duck was urban species #015.

On this day in 365 Urban Species: Mexican Free-tailed Bat. If you haven't seen this entry, you have to check it out, if only for the video. For this reason alone, Austin is a great city.