"Down on the Pond" photograph by WizenedEye.com

Brokeback Pond

There’s a pond behind our house. It’s a hang-out for red-winged blackbirds, an occasional blue heron, a million frogs, a muskrat we call “Frances,” and the usual assortment of water-loving or water-dependent flora and fauna.

Over the years, my husband and I have watched the mating rituals and nesting of ducks and geese, and – if they are lucky – the rearing of ducklings and goslings. We've also noted that there are often pairs of male mallards or wood ducks. They are peaceable, seem to mind their own business of survival, and don’t appear to cause any problems for the other pond residents.

Recently I’ve noticed another kind of duck. It’s difficult to tell the male from the female of this species, but both appear to lean to their right side. Unlike the mallards and woodies, this duck rails at our male pairs, quacking something indistinguishable that can best be described as a shrill “que-er, que-er, que-er.” I don’t understand their behavior or what the problem is, but I wish these unbalanced birds would behave better towards our same-sex neighborhood couples. Their noise is annoying, their behavior foolish, and they are upsetting what has always been natural on our pond.