March 20, 2017

Lunchtime Video

Somebody asked for more ducks, so here they are. But I have two questions.

First, what are these ducks fighting over? It can’t be a crumb of bread somebody threw to them. Maybe a fish? Do ducks eat fish? Or are they just ganging up on some poor duck who violated duck protocol? There’s definitely a duck at the beginning who’s getting pretty abused, but there seems to be more going on than just that.

Second, is this as good as resolution gets on YouTube? It seems like I’ve seen better. But this is HD video shot in MPEG 4, and I think I have all the settings correct. Is there anything more I can do?

UPDATE: We have answers!

  1. It’s spring, when a young duck’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. Among mallards, this is apparently a bit of mild foreplay. Be glad you’re not a female duck.
  2. I’m an idiot. The video was in high res, but I had it set to display on my computer at normal res. Once I chose the high-res setting, everything was fine.

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Clara Jeffery, Editor-in-Chief

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