I love ducks. They're so cute. I love that the town where I live is concerned for the ducks' welfare. They hang signs near the retention ponds where the ducks hang around to do duck things. Like swim, and eat and BREED.
What I don't like about ducks is the calling cards they leave behind. (I touched on this in BOOKMARKED FOR DEATH--only then it was geese. Believe me. The geese can be really bad about it.)
But thankfully, geese don't visit me. Ducks, however, do. And you really don't want to encourage them. That's why we're really good about pumping the top of the money pit, er, pool as soon as the ice melts. Unfortunately, we still get rain, so keeping it pumped off becomes a continuing job until the pool is finally opened in June.
That means, I'm on constant duck alert. The problem is, the ducks are used to people. You have to go out there and make an absolute fool of yourself jumping up and down and waving your arms and clapping and yelling to get them to move.
I sure hope my neighbors don't have a video camera trained on our backyard.
Speaking of ducks, check out Hank's guest blog yesterday featuring her own magical ducks:
ReplyDeletehttp://mayhemandmagic2.blogspot.com/
H'mmm ... don't have your duck problem here at my home in Teaneck, NJ. Mostly squirrels. Wanna trade some of these fluffy rats for cute ducks? *sigh* Thought not.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if it'd help or not, but have you thought of sticking some small rocks in some empty cans and shaking them while you're jumping around, waving your arms? Maybe the noise along with your calisthenics would do the trick?
If not, try squirting them (the ducks!) with water from your hose. While they might like SITTING in the water, they might not like getting (lightly) zapped with it! (Of course, that means there will be more water to pump, but ......) ((grin))
Have fun!
FWIW, you can get a small lightweight pump (like a sump pump) that keeps the top of the pool cover down to about 1/2" of water. Runs automatically when water gets deep enough. Is that enough to discourage ducks?
ReplyDelete