Life's Casual Observer: Totally Violated!!!!!

Awww... look at the cute little duck.

His name is Star and he was the cutest little duck ever! I fell in love with him at first site. I'll never forget the day we brought him home ... the day he stole our hearts! Soft, yellow, cuddly, precious little ball of joy. That was our Star.

As he grew, he became quite the ladies man... a charmer... stealing the hearts of the local ladies

He was a born leader... a role model like no other... The other drakes looked up to him ... emulated his every move...

But there was trouble brewing in this young duck's heart. He became agitated, angry, and restless.

Let me clarify that mating season is in full swing! Our four drakes chase each other around the pasture vying for Top Duck... A literal pecking order ...waiting for the day when we finally get some hens and they can impress the heck out of the ladies!

Let me just say now, We need some Hens!

Here is my story...

The other day I was walking in the pasture having just fed our chickens. It was a bright, sunny day with a gentle breeze that lifted tender tendrils of hair from the nape of my neck. The sun kissed the crown of my head; the warmth making its way to my shoulders. Our alpha male duck, Star, was viciously attacking Sam-I-Am, a younger drake who struggled to keep one step ahead of his attacker. I picked Star up to protect Sam and calm our agitated drake. He stood, struggling to maintain his balance, on my arm. I started to sooth him with a soft voice when he suddenly and totally unexpectedly raced up my arm to my shoulder and back of my neck, grabbed a thick lock of my hair in his beak and starting flapping his wings wildly while beginning, what became evidently clear in a matter of one second, a mating behavior!!!

I guarantee that if anyone else had been in the pasture at that moment or in a passing car on the road, they would have thought I was fighting off a dozen venomous snakes or covered in flesh-eating ants. I can't vouch for the words that escaped my mouth during those few moments! All I know is that I felt Totally Violated! He had a death grip on my hair and as he was on the back of my neck, I couldn't reach around to grab him. His wings were flapping wildly and I couldn't get a grip on anything! The seconds seemed to turn to minutes... minutes to hours as I tried to fight off this very active Duck! I was spinning in circles trying to shake him off! There was no one to call to for help, there was no one to call 911, there was no one but me and that STUPID duck attacking me! I was finally able to grab my hair and rip it free from his grip (losing some hair in the process). As he reached for my hair again, he bit my fingers that were desperately fighting him off! I was finally able to dislodge him from my neck and as he flew to the ground, I turned on him with such outrage and disbelief!

He looked up at me with those little duck eyes, all innocent and sweet... I swear there was a smirk on his beak!

I wanted to kick him square in his stupid beak and give him a piece of my mind, but I turned and raced out of the pasture. I had been violated! I guarantee that he is no longer and will never again be "that cute wittle ducky"!

In preparation for writing this blog, I did some research on the mating behaviors of ducks and this is what I found:

In an article titled, Duck Mating, the sex lives of ducks by Sally Schloss, her first sentence reads, "Rape is not typically something you associate with those darling “duckies” who bob along the surface of the water to the delight of children and adults at the local pond. " - http://www.webvet.com/main/2009/01/09/duck-mating-sex-lives-ducks

No KIDDING! I learned more from this article than I ever wanted to know about my pet ducks!

Well, needless to say, Star is my duck and I still love him (No, you can't have him, Morgan Allen!) I may not approve of his recent behavior, but like any of my other children, he needs to learn a good lesson!!!