h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A643060

An entry about an escapee duck which now has the UN, the EEC and several national governments involved in its escapades. A quiet invasion and an alien takeover . . .

Any comments / opinions please?

I would've posted my last message here instead of attaching it to the article if I'd been half and hour later in spotting it

So ... what I wanted to say was: this is a jolly good entry and useful, with it. I would guess that not many people know about the conservation drama of these "kissing cousins" and public opinion might make a difference to the outcome - if only the public knew what was going on.

This is the main point/opinion I wanted to voice about the reasoning behind this "conservation" exercise.

1) The interbreeding of these 2 closely related species of duck is not a threat to the White Headed Duck species. The Ruddy Duck is not killing the White-Headed Duck, but merely showing it considerable affection and exchanging a few genes with it. The genes of both ducks will get passed on to future generations of ducks.

2) It cannot be compared to the threats to other species such as those posed by imported predatory species (cats and mink for example), as they actually kill native animals that have not evolved along side them and therefore are unprepared to escape or defend themselves against these very efficient predators. A species wiped out by a ruthless predator will, of course, not pass its genes on to future generations.

3) Neither can it be compared to the threat the grey squirrel poses to the red squirrel by out-competing it for food and territory. If the red squirrel is driven out of all it's territories it will become extinct. It's genes will not be passed on to the next generation.

I say, long live the ruddy duck, the white-headed duck and the ruddy white-headed duck! Let the ducks love each other in peace! Why should we shove our intolerance and "racism" down their crops?

Another good'ne Waz!

Sal

Great entry, Wazu!

The only thing I can think of to add would be a couple of links to photos in the first part where you describe the ducks, just to let people see the difference between the two species.

Has there ever been any evidence that the numbers in the UK affect your own duck species in any way (out-competing etc.)?

Azara

From your description of the male ruddy duck, I can see why the female white headed duck fancies him. He's obviously a dashing and handsome fellow. Do the lady ruddy ducks ever favour the gentleman white headed ducks with their attentions? Or does this new arrangement leave them both out in the cold?

I read in one of my bird books that ruddy ducks can't walk on account of their legs being situated so far back. I'm at work at the moment so can't check that. Perhaps the Slimbridge people clipped their wings and thought that would be enough to keep them confined to Slimbridge.

I agree they should be left to mate as they please. If the young are healthy and able to breed then they should let nature take its course. Genetic purity seems like a very iffy concept to me. These are wild animals not domesticated breeds. All those organisations who want to kill the ruddy ducks should have better things to do with their time and money. They should leave the birds alone and mind their own business.

Very good article . It gets my vote.

I used to live in a house by the water, and duck were always coming into the backyard to mate. Sometimes they held duck orgies. These were just ordinary American Mallards, but this entry gets my nostalgia vote nonetheless.

This gets my vote. A very good article which is informative, while not been too serious. I also have memories of the the ducks that
used to live in the river by our house, and once tried to nest on our roof.

Let feed them some bread. Oops no bread, lets throw some and some flan

Flan !!!

Nice article Wazu
I guess this controversy will run and run but to my mind it's pointless to intrude on the mating urges of the ruddy white headed ducks. Although I can see your point about not wanting to discourage the Spaniards from their new conservationist interest, this culling really does seem like a pointless and destructive exercise. The ruddy duck gene genie is well and truly out of the bottle, no going back now.

So everyone is voting for Ruddy! And putting his case better than I've seen elsewhere.

As public opinion, as expressed here, seems to be of the view that this is a friendly merger going on, not a hostile takeover, I've changed a couple of bits. I've rephrased the second paragraph to remove the reference to Ruddy's 'wipeing out' Whitey. I've beefed up the anti-exterminationist-conservationist view that the funds could be better used. And I've added a couple of sentences at the end to spell out the fact that this is not a straight forward case of extermination of a species.

Then, just yesterday, there was an article in BBC news online about safe havens for red squirrels. It said 'In conifer woods ... the reds' survival chances are much higher.'. So I've added a footnote to the mention of red squirrels in the entry as it adds weight to the possibility that there might be circumstances in which the Whitey would be more competitive.

Please let me know if you think all this unbalances the article.

Azara, I've found a really good image of the ruddy duck but not yet a usable one of a white-headed, ( just not striking enough to attract the cameras ). I have seen no suggestion that the ruddy duck is a competitor re other species - his numbers aren't that high yet but as far as I know its not a problem.

Shorn, I don't believe lady ruddy gets left out, gentleman white-headed loses out all round . (He's maybe too much of a gentlman and could use some American Mallard genes.) I haven't seen any comment about them not being able to walk on land - I'd be interested to know about that. You'd think that was pretty disadvantageous, I've only seen them in the water but I haven't seen that many.

I'm not at all sure about feeding ducks s, could lead to a whole new branch of duck evolution , turning diving ducks into leaping ducks. I wouldn't try it - you'd have an EEC Action Plan to Exterminate All Throwers in order to preserve the diving duck.

Oh my goodness Waz! Your changes must have been excellent. They got the moderators' attention (damn it) "Guide Entry Hidden. This Guide Entry has been hidden, because it contravenes our House Rules in some way. However, the author can easily re-write it so that it doesn't break the rules, so let's hope they do just that."

Just quickly. In Collins Pocket Guide to Birds of Britain & Europe, page 80, it says, at the end of the paragraph about ruddy ducks "Freshwater inland; dives often; cannot walk on land."

If I get time later I'll see if I can find anything on the internet about ruddy ducks and their hiking habits.

Some time this week, if I get time, I'm going to write to the RSPB and savage them over this extermination policy. I hate to think they're spending money I give them to help birds on trying to wipe out a species.

Nothing so interesting I'm afraid Shorn, it was just a broken link to the Birdlife International website. It should be back now.

'cannot walk on land' and has short wings - how does it cope with nesting?

Good luck with the RSPB - I thought of asking them about it but I suspect its politics. A trade off. We'll do something to help your Spanish ducks / you something to reduce shooting birds migrating from UK to Africa.

Another quick one coz I've used up my break looking for stuff. Here's some Info from the "Patuxent Bird ID InfoCentre Waz:
"Oxyura jamaicensis is 35-40 cm in length. Males tend to have a greater average mass (590 grams) than females (499 grams) (Dunning, 1993) In breeding plumage, the male’s body is a chestnut color, with a black cap and white cheeks (Bull and Farrand, 1977). The tail is fan-shaped. Chicks are whitish until acquiring brown adult plumage. Ruddy ducks are unable to walk."
"Breeder. Ruddy ducks are found primarily in wetlands with patches of open water, including ponds and salt marshes. Freshwater locations are preferred to saltwater locations (Cramp, 1977) Nests are located in vegetation, and typical clutch size is between 5-15 eggs. Ruddy ducks are brood parasites, laying eggs in nests of ducks of the same or different species (Ehrlich et al., 1988). Young are precocial (Ehrlich et al., 1988). The maximum age of a ruddy duck recorded from nature is 13 years (Clapp et al., 1983)."
"Generalist. Breeding ducks feed predominantly by diving underwater and straining mud from the bottom, but may occasionally skim the surface (Clapp et al., 1982). Both plant and animal matter is consumed though preferences vary with age, season, and location (Clapp et al., 1982). Specific food items include midge larvae, water boatmen, brine flies, leaches, dragonfly nymphs, shrimps, snails, mollusks, and clams (Euliss et al.,1991)."

Thanks Shorn, and for giving up your break too.

I've been searching for information now on whether the white-headed can walk. I can't say Ruddy can't without being able to say whether Whitey can. So far no info. Except a comment from an American source saying the only ducks he'd seen in all his waterfowl books that couldn't walk were the Ruddy duck and the loon. But his books may all have been American based.

(Was 1988 a special year 8), )

This post has been removed.

Oh bother. That hidden message (number 13) was mine. I put in a couple of paragraphs that suggested that white headed ducks could walk. One was from an org called "borealforest" and the other was from the Hellenic Ornithological Society magazine, Oeonus. I credited the right people with the quotes so I don't know why the mods hid the message. There was nothing rude or inflammatory in it.

Ooo-err! I've just had an email from the h2g2 moderation team saying "It has been removed on the grounds that it contains material on which the copyright appears to be owned by someone else." I'm confused now. Are you not allowed to say so and so said such and such. I wasn't suggesting you should put the quote in your entry Waz. Honest. I was just passing on the information because we're not allowed to put the sites' urls in messages. Can't win. Sorry

I'll hunt them down again and put the links in my "Handy Bird Sites, Tips and Tails" links page. I'll have to do it a bit later though. I'm out of time again.

Ok, it didn't take long. If you look here, http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A628175 you'll find those sites about White Headed ducks at the top of the page.

That's confused me too because its no different from the previous quotes re the Ruddy Duck. Anyway I found them on your links page. I think I will try putting one of them and a ruddy duck page in as links for pictures (with the advantage of also giving basic info about the ducks themselves, which isn't really relevant to the entry and would make it too long to include there). So if the entry disappears again its because of the highly defamatory and rude descriptions of the white-headed duck you gave me the link to 8).

I think you're allowed to say so and so said such and such as long as the such and such isn't too long. Define too long . . .

Good idea. I'd cross my fingers and hope nobody finds the duck pages too offensive but you know how difficult it is to type with your fingers crossed

That must be it then. My quotes must have been too long. I didn't think they were very long though. It's all a bit too vague really

Great stuff!

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