Mary, born July 8, 2009, part of The Quack Squad, was at first the 'ordinary' black Indian runner girl amongst a group of four black ducklings including Emily, Bella, and Beetle. Yes Mary, who is named after my great aunt, proved that each being has his/her own personality and quirks, preferences and voice. Mary has a mouth on her, but that's not all. When Mary was the equivalent age in duck days to that of, perhaps, seven or eight years in a human child, she decided she liked the older boys. I tried telling her, "Little Mary Doodle, you still have fluff. You are a duckling, not a hen, not even a pullet yet." Mary didn't care. She strutted up to Augie, her head bobbing to one side, her cracking quack voice repeating the 'service me' song. Then she'd flatten her little body in a gesture that said 'hop on boys' and they did. First Augie would climb on and then Clyde would climb on top of Augie so they were stacked three ducks deep, Mary on the bottom quacking loudly. (This is often the only scene captured in many YouTube videos that are labeled 'duck rape'. Most people who are filming do not realize there is, in most cases, an entire sequence of mating behaviors that take place before and after the actual mating and the female does quack loudly, which can sound like panic.)
Miss Mary Doodle has never panicked. She knows what she's doing. After the boys have toppled over (they become stiff and simply fall on their sides like a saw horse would fall if it were kicked, and then they stretch their necks and run in circles in what is an obvious dance of triumph and glee) Mary pops right back up and begins running after Augie or Clyde again, her head bobbing to one side--usually her left, her dut-dut dut-dut quack begging for more attention.
Little Mary. For a while she had an indentation on the back of her head from the boys grabbing the feathers to hold on while mating. I've felt this place on the back of her head, which seems to be at the base of her skull, and there is a deposit of fatty tissue there which indicates to me that it is cushioned specifically for the purpose of providing a hang-on for the drake's bill.
In keeping with her pushy demeanor, Mary is feisty in other ways. One day when I placed a rubber mat beneath the food shelter none of the other ducks, nor the goose Lucy, would venture onto the mat to get food. I sat back and watched Lucy walk forward, stretch her neck curiously, and then turn around and look at me. The other ducks merely stood erect, almost on their tip toes, in order to get a look at what was going on---what was that black thing and did they dare approach it? Mary began cackling to herself the way she often does and, with normal posture, she marched right up to the mat and placed her webbed foot on it, then the other webbed foot, and kept right on going up to the food trough where she started gulping corn and layer pellets. The other ducks looked at each other as if to say, "Hmmm...well, she did it, so can we!" Lucy, who is always hungry, followed immediately on Mary's heels and the rest is history.
Mary is so persistent, though, that the boys became exhausted from her advances. I began to notice, after the initial excitement of 'getting a girl', the boys started ignoring her. They'd be out in the grass grazing or dabbling along the edge of the pool and Mary would approach, bobbing her promiscuous head, quacking her wanton quack, and Clyde or Augie would walk off. This only resulted in Mary following them around the yard, continuing her pleas for attention.
You will not be surprised, then, when I tell you Mary has pinched me. Yes, when I brought her inside to treat her feet one day, she grabbed the skin above my wrist, on the back of my arm, and twisted it. Snap! There was a small bruise, but not nearly as large as the numerous bruises one teenage boy Augie Duck had given me during summer when he was most restless for a girlfriend.
I do not know the answer as to why Mary was so sexually precocious. She had at least a month or more lead time in the flirting department; she began way before the other girls. I think in some ways this provided a buffer, since Augie and Clyde were beginning to get restless and I saw them jump Bella and Beetle a few times while they were swimming in the pool. It was clear Bella and Beetle were not ready for mating and I wonder what would have happened if all the girls had continued to resist. Would the drakes have raped them in this case? Not with Mary around. In fact, as is clear in what I've shared about Mary already, she wore the drakes out. Augie and Clyde began avoiding her. It was funny to watch.
Super sexed Little Miss Mary Doodle! She's the talk of the town.
Mary flirting with Augie. Augie steps aside to let Clyde mate with her.
This entire time Mary is bobbing her head.
This was back when Little Ming didn't know what to do with girls.
I think Mary is confused after Ming steps away.
Mary sees Clyde approaching, so she squats down for him.
Clyde grips the back of Mary's head in his bill.
Mary, born July 8, 2009, part of The Quack Squad, was at first the 'ordinary' black Indian runner girl amongst a group of four black ducklings including Emily, Bella, and Beetle. Yes Mary, who is named after my great aunt, proved that each being has his/her own personality and quirks, preferences and voice. Mary has a mouth on her, but that's not all. When Mary was the equivalent age in duck days to that of, perhaps, seven or eight years in a human child, she decided she liked the older boys. I tried telling her, "Little Mary Doodle, you still have fluff. You are a duckling, not a hen, not even a pullet yet." Mary didn't care. She strutted up to Augie, her head bobbing to one side, her cracking quack voice repeating the 'service me' song. Then she'd flatten her little body in a gesture that said 'hop on boys' and they did. First Augie would climb on and then Clyde would climb on top of Augie so they were stacked three ducks deep, Mary on the bottom quacking loudly. (This is often the only scene captured in many YouTube videos that are labeled 'duck rape'. Most people who are filming do not realize there is, in most cases, an entire sequence of mating behaviors that take place before and after the actual mating and the female does quack loudly, which can sound like panic.)
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