Be warned, behind every cute duckling is a protective parent, ready to attack and defend.

Spring isn’t all it’s quacked up to be. Pollen levels are high, magpies are terrorising cyclists and pedestrians alike and protective duck parents are in attack mode.

Andrew Cockburn is an ornithologist from the Research School of Biology at The Australian National University (ANU). He says that male ducks are the ones most likely to hiss at or chase after people during spring.  

“The males are the ones that we see getting aggressive this time of year. They are very protective over their mate, and especially their young.” 

The Australian Wood Duck is one of the most common species found on the ANU campus. According to Cockburn, they form quite strong pair bonds, with males and females coupling up to breed and raise their young.  

After the females have laid their eggs and incubated them in the cavities of trees, the hatchlings start their life with a daredevil dive to the ground. 

Once the ducklings are out and about in the world, this is when their proud parents become menaces to unsuspecting passersby. 

As ANU students will know firsthand, the campus ducks spend most of the year idly going about their business, but once the babies are out of the nest, even looking at a duck the wrong way can cause trouble. 

“They are very, very defensive,” Cockburn says. “The males in particular take delight in attacking humans, or whatever moving object they regard as a threat to their ducklings.” 

Cockburn’s advice for making it through spring without being chased (or waddled after) by a duck is simple.  

“Just don’t hassle them,” he says. 

“Ducks might seem frightening, but they are a thousand times less likely to cause damage than a swooping magpie.”

Top photo: Tracey Nearmy/ANU

Related tags:

You may also like

Article Card Image

New environmental boundaries set limit for ‘safe and just’ human future

Humans are taking colossal risks with the future of civilisation and everything that lives on Earth, a new global study shows. 

Article Card Image

Strange neighbours: the sanctuary on the edge of our city 

At Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary you can spot animals that haven’t existed in their natural habitat for more than a century. Now the ANU experts behind this conservation experiment are taking it a step further.

Article Card Image

A place in the sun: removing solar barriers for renters 

A major rethink is needed to help more Australian renters benefit from rooftop solar, according to ANU researchers.

Subscribe to ANU Reporter

Anu Logo

+61 2 6125 5111

The Australian National University, Canberra

CRICOS Provider: 00120C

ABN: 52 234 063 906

EDX Logo
APRU Logo
IARU Logo
Group of eight Australia Logo