A photographer has posted dramatic recent photos of a group of ~10 wood
duck drakes copulating with a female accompanied by four ducklings. See
tenth row of photos at http://www.pbase.com/lesleylou/fla2007  We have
all noticed that drake woodies routinely abandon hens at the nest, then
assemble in groups, but this subsequent behavior is new to me.
        Maybe it's because the photos are from Florida, where these ducks would
presumably have more time to double-brood. I read in Bellrose (p. 189 in
the third edition) that Aix sponsa is our only duck species known to
double-clutch in a single season, but the phenomenon is unusual. I
imagine the evolutionary advantage of this behavior is the off-chance
the female will bring off another clutch, and that pair-bonding such as
occurs for a first brood is less efficient to produce a second. That's
on the assumption a hen is susceptible to impregnation with young of
this age. Am I right about this? Has any reader witnessed this sort of
behavior here? I assume other duck species don't do this.
Anthropomorphic points of view, such as "gang rape," are  beside the
point here, of course.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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