Duck Fight

The coronavirus has had a number of side-effects that promote a cleaner, healthier environment. International travel has been drastically reduced, with commercial flying being cut entirely, and essential travel being held under scrutiny, reducing fossil fuel emissions by aircrafts. With so many people recently unemployed or being offered remote work options, there are fewer vehicles on roads, meaning less fuel emissions from automobiles as well. Things that were formerly paper-based, such as contracts, documents, cash, and cheques, are finding alternatives now, decreasing need for deforestation. People are cooking more at home and buying in bulk, meaning that convenience- and fast-food demand is decreasing, which means a decrease in packaging and plastic waste as well.

With so many people indoors, many people have noted that animals are becoming bolder. It's like the Earth is reclaiming what we took from it. I recently got to experience this sudden burst in confidence from local wildlife when I was recently challenged for my status as king of the urban jungle by a gang of ducks.

Now, to be fair to them, I started it. You might remember me posting about the first time I intervened when I saw a male duck assaulting a female. This is not an uncommon things to see, and I used to take the stance that nature is beyond our human understanding, and even if we find something repulsive, it's not our role to try and change it. However, I later learned that successful male ducks are able to develop consensual relationships with females. The aggressive male ducks are the losers that couldn't successfully attract a mate, and female ducks have evolved their bodies to decrease their chance of being impregnated by an aggressive male. So in the case of duck violence, you absolutely can and should intervene when you see it. Those toxic male incel ducks don't deserve to pass on their genetics.

So nowadays, when I see a male duck assaulting a female, I stomp on the ground next to the male as hard as I can. This has, until now, always resulted in the male immediately flying away from the scene.

Now I admit, this story happened awhile back. At this time, mating season is over, eggs have hatched, and ducklings are being raised. This story takes place just a little after mating season, when the unsuccessful males have realized that they won't be able to attract a mate.

So I'm out for a walk, and I see this classic scene of two male ducks flanking a female, while the female is screaming and running. Obviously, I run toward them. The female just keeps running, which is understandable, as she cant see that I'm here to help and must only perceive me as an additional attacking animal.

The males are persistant. I jump and stomp and kick but the three of them keep running, and when I get too close, they flutter slightly out of range, but land and continue their behaviour. At one point, everyone calms down, and I wonder if I failed to assess the situation, but then the female starts screeming and running again, and the males start chasing and pecking at her again.

This time, when I try to intervene, four more male ducks arrive at the scene. When this happened, I actually threw my arms back and shouted "Come at me!" The four male ducks surround me and start doing that thing where they flutter at you and lash at the air with their bills but flutter away before making contact. Meanwhile, the two initial male ducks are trying to separate themselves from the skirmish while making away with the female.

I'm weaving, throwing punches, and dashing after the ducks that are chasing the female. This whole thing eventually ended when I made a long jump intending to land on one of the original male agressors. I didn't quite make contact, and all members involved flew outside my reach. After that, I had to admit that there was nothing else I could do.

Afterwards, I was sweating buckets and my heart was racing. I think I heard someone laughing from a distance during the confrontation, so some people might know me as a person that fights ducks.

In other news, I'm thinking about opening a new blog. This is by far the blog that sees the most updates, but I do currently have three others. They are as follows:

Gryphon's Gallery: a blog for images, whether they are photos or artistic endeavours

Gryphon's Reviews: a place where I critically review pieces from different mediums, including books, shows, video games, and consumables

The Migrating Gryphon: documents my experiences while traveling. Right now it covers my experiences during Katimavik and Canada World Youth. Who knows when I'll be able to update it again. I've contemplated doing updates about walking to the closed Fairview Mall during lockdown, since travel is so stigmatized

The new blog I'm considering is one for recipes. The pandemic has inspired a lot of experimental cooking, and I would like to share what I have learned.

I haven't decided on a name, but currently I'm considering Gryphon's Grill or Gryphon's Griddle, which would be good because of the aliteration, but right now I have more baking recipes than grilling ones. Gryphon's Kitchen and Cooking with Gryphon are basic names.

Let me know if you guys have any better name ideas.

Also, stay tuned. I started my garden for 2020 recently and plan on having it completed this weekend, so I will probably have another update in a few days.