I named Buda’s best buddy Buddy. Seemed like a good name for him. As you can see in this image of them standing on black ice, Buddy defers to Buda and doesn’t challenge his alpha male position in the Buda Bunch. During the courtship season, Buddy will leave the bunch to “date” hens in other groups, but the rest of the year he just watches was Buda does and tags along behind. He seems very content in his secondary role.
It’s such a subtle thing, isn’t it? Buddy’s deference to Buda. No one would notice it, but when you point it out, it’s such an obvious behavior. Darlings, both of them.
It’s very subtle. I can see why most of the ducks raised from meat are Pekins like these guys. They are calm and friendly ducks not to mention their large size. In the past year, we’ve lost three of the pond’s Pekins. One was abducted by a city employee, a hen was killed by mating stress, and the third one was probably killed by a snapping turtle. All were really nice, gentle birds that I used to enjoy introducing to preschoolers because they could pet them.
[...] March 28th, Buddy, a large Pekin male from The Buda Bunch, paid a visit to The Dam Tribe seeking the affections of [...]