Love & Grief in Duck Season
It’s an old song. –Hadestown the Musical
The Question
There seemed to be more traffic, but the light was green so we were still moving albeit a little slower than the usual breakneck pace of all of us who just wanted to be home. Out my driver’s side window I saw the duck — a mallard to be precise. His bright green head gave him away. He was pissed. Standing on the side of the road, he was quacking away feverishly. I’ve never seen a duck behave in this way. He was so close to the road. He was telling off everyone who drove by. He was Donald Duck on steroids.
What would cause a duck to go so crazily bonkers?
Aside #1
According to Ranger Planet, many people want to believe mallards, like swans, mate for life. Mallards are affectionate, protective, and completely committed to each other. Unfortunately, unlike swans, This connection only lasts one mating season. The term is seasonal bonding. Once the female is comfortably sitting on her eggs, the male duck flies off for some well-deserved private relaxation.
Think about it. Ducks stay together just long enough to produce life. Mating season comes around. The male duck does his dance, struts his stuff, and finds his one true love. Who cares if it is just for the season? He is hers. She is his. It is love at its rawest, newest, and most consuming. The entire romance never leaves the honeymoon phase of new love.
Think when you first fell in love. There were the secret jokes you shared just between the two of you. Remember how you could never get close enough? You just wanted to breathe, explore, and love that other person. Young love is the best, happiest and most wonderful place to be.
The Answer
As I drove closer to the angry little water fowl, I saw her. I saw his mate.
She was a soft, lifeless brown puddle lying across one of the yellow stripes in the middle of the two-lane road. Light feathers stuck up at odd angles from her body. They blew back and forth off of her in the wind created by the passing vehicles. He couldn’t reach her. All he could do was call to her pleading with her to get up and return to him.
Aside #2
Mallards may be seasonal bonding ducks, but life is short. That one season for those two specific ducks was their whole world for that moment in time. A male mallard duck will remain by the side of his fallen partner even when there are potential dangers nearby. To wit, my duck stood his ground during Friday afternoon traffic with lines of cars zooming by him at 30 miles per hour.
The stories of fresh new love which end in tragedy have survived the ages. Orpheus and Eurydice dates back to 530 B.C. Currently it is wildly popular on stage as the musical Hadestown. The movie, Cruel Intentions, starring Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe is based on Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos published in 1782.
Why? Why do we remember these tragic stories?
Because we all root for new love. We root for the glowing blush on a cheek. We understand how that first intimate touch feels. We rejoice in knowing two people, or even ducks, have found each other. To cut that celebration short is heartbreaking for everyone.
The Regret
I, like every other car that day, drove by the inconsolable duck without stopping.
It has been more than 20 years yet I have not forgotten.
I regret not getting out of my car, holding up traffic, and moving the poor deceased female back to its male. I’m pretty sure I would have been ferociously pecked and quacked off. It would have been worth it.
Young love could have had its grieving time to say farewell.
