In autumn, when water bodies in the city are covered with a thin film of ice, an accumulation of mallards can be seen in the ice hole. Many birds tamed by humans are no longer migratory and prefer life in an urbanized ecosystem. Fauna lovers are faced with the question: what to feed the ducks in the park to help them survive the cold season?
Is it possible to feed ducks in the city
If a wild duck appears in a city park, bread, chips, popcorn often become its food, which compassionate townspeople happily throw into the pond. Parents with children especially love to do this. Experts in this matter are unequivocal: it is impossible to feed wild ducks in the city in the warm season! Why?
- Firstly, the birds in the reservoir and near it usually have enough food, and they must get it on their own. Mallard ducks filter the silt with horny plates of their beaks and find a lot of edible things in it. In the middle lane, ducks that have settled in the city feed on small animals (crustaceans, fry, worms and, most importantly, mosquito larvae), aquatic and coastal plants.
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Secondly, by taming migratory birds, townspeople dull their instincts given by nature. They stop looking for better food conditions, work, and when the cold weather sets in, they are not ready to fly to the south. And in the harsh winter, especially in the absence of polynya, it will not be easy for ducks to survive without human help.
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When can wild ducks be fed?
Feeding ducks in the park during the warm season, especially during the breeding season, is permissible in special conditions, for example, when environmental problems arise with the reservoir. Complementary feeding is also necessary if the bird is injured and cannot get food for itself.
It is necessary to feed the ducks in winter in the absence of polynya, extremely low temperatures - lower than -15 ° C. In warmer weather, the mallard normally tolerates frost, since it has a high body temperature, has fat and warm plumage.
In addition, birds need human help, the total number of which in the pond reaches two hundred or even more individuals.
What to feed waterfowl
Can ducks have bread? This is the first question that arises for those who want to help mallards to survive the autumn-winter period in the city. According to experts, bakery products, especially fresh ones and varieties like "Borodinsky", are dangerous for these waterfowl!
They cause difficult fermentation processes in the digestive tract, and if mallards are given bread in large quantities, salt poisoning is possible. Migratory birds get the required amount of salt from natural food, including from duckweed and small fish.
If it is necessary to feed mallards settled in the city, experts allow the following feeds:
- Sprouted wheat grains.
- Slightly cooked barley, barley, oats.
- Compound feed for ducks, bought at the poultry market or specialty store.
- Balls of chopped grass (eg, carrot or beet tops, spinach) mixed with cottage cheese without salt.
- Soft green fruits, berries.
- Worms, small fresh fish.
- Chopped vegetables: potatoes, cabbage, pumpkin.
With the constant use of even feed from the permitted list, wild birds, whose stomachs are adapted for other natural food, have metabolic problems and it will be difficult to call them completely healthy. But what if migratory ducks, tamed by man, have already become commonplace in the middle lane? Now you know what to feed the ducks in the park if they stayed in the city for the winter.
