The breeding preparations erupted into aggression yesterday. I heard a loud splashing sound and looked out to see two mallard drakes chasing each other round and round in a tight circle. They looked intent on violence but I am not sure whether much contact was actually made. The confrontation turned into a chase, first on the water and then into the air. On the second circuit round, the lone female, who presumably was the reason for the aggression decided she had had enough of the testosterone action, and flew away.
This episode, with two drakes and one duck, follows a period of a couple of weeks where there has been two ducks and one drake around - swimming happily together. I am not sure what sort of selection process was going on, if any.
Prior to that we had a period of a couple of weeks when there were at least two and sometimes three separate pairs of mallards all looking like they had selected their mates.
The more I see of mallards, the more I find it difficult to draw any conclusions as to their social patterns.
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