Having grown up in a family of eight which included five sibling brothers, fighting just came natural. Fights emerged from whose mowing turn came next, or “that was a ball, not a strike,” to “stay off my side of the bed.” Attempted sharing became a way of life.
Being sibling three, I always wore my brother’s hand-me-downs, never anything new. He got new. Jealousy caused fights. Never ever use a brother’s cap gun without asking or that’ll cause a fight. Almost without exception, an hour after a fight it fell forgotten. A new play event inspired comradery.
Angelkeep offered abundant occasions to be witness to fighting of many creatures from nature. Some Angelkeep’s bouts became as notorious as Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Liston when Clay (later Muhammad Ali) danced like a butterfly and stung like a bee in the seventh round as the 8-1 underdog. Angelkeep’s hawk vs. cat ended in a draw when both stalked the other, and attacked at precisely the same time. It ended with a giant dual head-butt sending both to licking wounds in a sheltered corner. Hilarious.
Angelkeep critter visitors seldom fought, but co-existed. Some animal forms had their hierarchy, or pecking order. Deer had been observed standing on their hind legs while jousting with foreleg hooves. If a buzzard spreads its wings wide in front of others dining on carrion, they usually back away to await another turn. Birdfeeder dining generally had a pecking order based on size. Sometimes a red-winged blackbird challenged a larger blue jay and rued the day.
Mallards seldom fought. They mate. The “event of fertilization” typically happened on the water, and witnessed many a time on Angelpond. It involved what could be assumed to be a fight by a novice birdwatcher. A male mallard climbed on the back of his spouse, grabbed her neck with his beak, and dunked her for however long he decided sufficient. She then popped up, furiously flapping her wings while literally standing on the water crest. She spent the next thirty minutes tucking feathers back into place.
This sounded and looked atrociously wrong. However also witnessed at Angelkeep was the preliminary, courtship, simultaneous, head bobbing by both partners acknowledging that “this is the time, the moment of bliss.” Invitation and acceptance in unison was quite different than an also witnessed duck fight.
When more male mallards appeared than the number of females a problem existed. All mallard men recognized themselves as being the “desired one.” If a pair had, in their natural way, said their marriage vows, it became the instinctive duty of the male of the pair to defend his “true love’s” honor. Prolonged and extremely combative duck fights were seldom seen by humans.
Angelkeep received ring-side seating recently to the longest duck bout ever taking place on Angelpond. “In this corner we have brown mallard wearing a green head. In another corner we have a brown mallard wearing, well it seems he’s chosen to wear a green head as well.”
It lasted for hours, carrying on through several rounds with periods between to allow the combatants to go to their own corner for a between-round rest. They returned to the center of the ring, pond, and the bell rang to start the frolic anew.
A round literally began with both mallards close-circling in tight formation. The goal by both involved getting slightly behind the other. At that moment the trailing mallard reached up and grabbed his opponent by the nape of the neck and clung on for all his worth. Circle paddling continued with splashing, and wing flaps. The aggressor bit the neck of the other. Then he flapped wings hard on the back of the other in an attempt to do damage.
The mallard being held by the neck, at the mercy of the other, returned flaps in an attempt to be released from the hold, or to inflict any possible damage at the same time. During this splashing, merry-go-round fight, the held male was dunked for severe lengths of time under the water crest. Apparently if beating a mallard to death, or biting it to death, proved unsuccessful, hopefully a drowning would occur to end the bout.
It took several hours and several rounds, but the mated mallard won. Suitor mallard left the pond to the winning Mallard Ali and bride. She’d watched from a distance flapping her wings and bobbing her head. If Mr. Mallard completely misunderstood the head bobbing action of his mate, a different form of mallard fight might occur.
Mr. Daugherty is a Wells County resident who, along with his wife Gwen, enjoy their backyard and have named it “Angelkeep.”
