We have entered a very dangerous stage. Now that they can sort of clumsily fly from one place to another, it won’t be long before their pen is merely a psychological construct that is reinforced by habit and not by any real barriers.
If one of them flies out of the pen while Nina is outside, it will be a race to see whether the dog can catch it, or if we can stop her before there is trouble. The ducks are pretty fast now and Nina is slowing down, but these guys aren’t expert aviators yet and it would be easy to fly right into the dog’s mouth.
Before I close this out, I’m noticing that the females are way better at problem solving than the males. Even Lucky with her bum eye is able to navigate simple puzzles such as how not to get stuck behind the gate when I open it up.
Today, both of the males watched the females head over to the lilacs to fresh water and swimming in the shade. They squeaked – as they do – and paced back and forth, but couldn’t figure out how the females managed to get out there. The females are also better at flying right now.
I suppose it’s a good thing that the males get fancier plumage in the spring.