This sounds like one of those “would you rather” style questions you would go through to pass the time on the road trip.
Would you rather take on one bald eagle or 200 mallard ducks? Or maybe you’d rather just watch them fight each other from a distance, like the person that filmed this video below got to do.
It was a battle of the birds as a bald eagle tried to catch a group of mallard ducks off guard as they sat on a thawed out portion of a frozen pond. And yes, I know, that was a great opportunity to use the phrase “sitting ducks,” but I’ll instead opt to utilize a different phrase.
For the bald eagle, it was like “shooting fish in a barrel” as it swooped down onto the flock of mallards. However, the ducks weren’t going to get scooped up by our nation’s bird without a fight, and they were able to showcase their teamwork by using a strangely effective “flapping defense.”
Every time the bald eagle flew low above the flock of ducks, the mallards zigged and huddled up in one part of the unfrozen water. If the bald eagle tried to change its point of attack, the mallards then zagged.
At some points in the video, it almost seems like they’re just playing a flying game of “duck, duck, duck” (instead of duck, duck, goose…since they’re all ducks).
The video’s caption describes it as “strength in numbers,” which I guess is somewhat true. I’d say it was more of a “strength in strategically moving from side to side,” but I guess having numbers helped the ducks avoid being picked up by the eagle at the end of the day.
There was no real winner or loser in this flying fight, but you do have to hand it to the flock of mallards for collectively banding together and not becoming the bald eagle’s next meal.
Check it out:
