Bird watching in the city
Even in the centre of Prague, among the busy traffic and swarms of people, there are patches of greenery and oases of wildlife. I like to take walks through the city and look for them, always wondering why on earth the poor animals have chosen to live in the noisy and dusty city rather than in the wild just a few kilometres away. Apart from the numerous parks, where one can see squirrels, rabbits as well as magpies, jackdaws and jays, there is another whole ecosystem - the river. Although its banks have been tamed between raised and paved embankments, the river is still alive.
Even in the centre of Prague, among the busy traffic and swarms of people, there are patches of greenery and oases of wildlife. I like to take walks through the city and look for them, always wondering why on earth the poor animals have chosen to live in the noisy and dusty city rather than in the wild just a few kilometres away. Apart from the numerous parks, where one can see squirrels, rabbits as well as magpies, jackdaws and jays, there is another whole ecosystem - the river. Although its banks have been tamed between raised and paved embankments, the river is still alive.
Now, I'm not talking about fish - but as there are always several dozen of lonely fishermen to be seen scattered along the embankments and waiting for their float to quiver, I guess there must be some too. It is the birds I like to watch. This past winter the number and diversity of water birds that opted to spend the winter in the warmer city centre seemed higher to me than usual. Apart from the everyday swans, mallards and gulls, I noticed water fowl which I had never seen before, at least not in the city. On my regular walks to the river with a bag full of lumps of old dry bread to feed the birds with I saw coots, which were especially numerous, funny and gawky on their tall legs. There were small flocks of common pochards, tufted ducks and the odd redhead, diving headlong and emerging after a good time a few metres away.
But what struck me most was a pair of bright coloured birds which stood out among the rather drab-coloured fowl. They looked quite like exotic parrots, with white heads, metal green backs and red wattles around their beaks, floating prettily, always slightly further away from the flocks of other fowl. Eager to find out what the birds - bigger than ducks but smaller than geese - were, I went through all my atlases of wild birds, but with no success. I even tried various water bird sites on the internet - but again, no luck.
By that time I was getting desperate, fuelled by my mounting curiosity. My last resort was to call the ornithological station. They did not leave me in the dark for long. It's obvious, the man said, they must be musk ducks. How come I could not find them in any books, I asked. You would have to look in poultry atlases, he said, because the musk duck is a domesticated species. When it escapes from a farm it can live and multiply in the wild. Knowing what to look for, I checked the internet again and found all I needed to know.
The musk, or muscovy, duck is a greenish-black, gooselike duck with heavy red wattles. It is found in the wild from Mexico to northern Argentina, but is also widely domesticated around the world for its succulent flesh. It is apparent that over the few months I've been watching them the couple have become quite plump. Has someone else perhaps found out that the cute colourful birds are edible and even tasty... and has been feeding them on purpose? Well, I hope that other people have taken a liking to the extraordinary colourful birds, and have been feeding them more than the other birds. I hope the lovely ducks will be in the mood to start a family this spring, and that next winter there will be much more colour on the river to divert us from the bleakness.
