Welcome to week 14 of our one year pond study. For the rest of the posts in this series please see here.
This week the children did a study on the Mallard duck. They read through all our past nature study posts. I asked them to tell me all they had learnt about the Mallard duck simply through observation. This was their answer, with a selection of pictures from the posts.
The Mallard duck lives anywhere there is water such as village ponds:
The male mallard looks very different from the female, with a green head, white collar and yellow beak:
Whereas the female is pretty much brown all over:
They are sociable and live in large groups:
They fight for their females:
It is during these fights that the male mallards can get hurt:
If hurt they will tend to their own wounds and are so hardy they heal readily:
Eventually they all pair off:
Make their nests:
And lay eggs to hatch baby ducks:
They scavenge on land for food, feeding on grains and plants:
And dabble for invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and a variety of plants in the water. Sometimes fully emersing their heads to pull at the plants:
They sleep with their head in their feathers:
They are very vocal birds:
and they groom themselves with their beak….
With their legs….
With the surrounding water…
Before flapping their wings to remove the excess water and realign their feathers:
They are also one of the only ducks which are able to take to flight without any running on the water or on the ground. They literally just take off:
I was genuinely surprised by how much they had taken in without ever reading a book about the Mallard duck. For me this is homeschooling at it’s very best. The children simply observed the nature whilst amongst it. Nature told its own story far more successfully than any book could.
I just love your pond study. I keep wondering if I could pull that off with our girls – but wonder if we’d have the time – or I guess I should say commitment from the whole family to make the time! It’s just wonderful how much can be learned just from being present and observing nature, and certainly increases our motivation to protect it. At any rate, every week I read your posts, I am more strongly convinced that we should do it, if not as in depth.
You know, I think it gets easier as the weeks go on and really doesn’t take up too much time. It’s become a bit of a family hobby which is nice!
How wonderful to be able to see so much first hand, without doubt the best way to learn. Thank you for sharing on Country Kids.
I was really happy with all they had observed, you’re right it is the best way to learn!
I love mallards. A few blocks from here, there’s a woman who feeds them all twice a day. They all cross from the river to her lawn – using the crosswalk!- at 9 am and 5 pm, every day, and all the drivers and buses stop for them. It’s been a great source of entertainment for us for the last 5 years.
I was telling the children this. They want to come and visit, they thought it was sooooo cool!!
Okay, I love that you had all of these pictures from over the past several weeks to be able to do your study.
Oh, and because I always forget to say it: Thanks for linking up to Science Sunday 🙂
The idea came to me in a flash, but actually turned out to be quite a successful one! Who’d have thought…?
Great post and beautiful pictures. A great testament for homeschooling.
Thank you!