![]() ![]() “If I’m dealing with small groups of pintails - six birds or so - I’ll make one short trill, and then wait four or five seconds. He went on to explain a quick calling tip he uses. I start a lot of young kids on a pintail whistle.” The sound comes out of the top of the call. It’s very simple and easy to do: You block the exhaust port at the end of the call completely with your finger and do about a one-second trill by rolling your tongue. He continued: “The drakes whistle, but you have to roll your tongue to make that sound. She’ll usually make three or four low-pitch quacks, but again, it’s a monotone sound.” “The hen does sound similar to a hen mallard, only much softer and more monotone. “There are only so many sounds pintails make,” a ’fowling friend once told me. Hear the sounds of a green-winged teal duck: A plus to the whistle is its versatility, as you can imitate not only teal but also drake mallards, pintails and widgeon with the tool. Several teal-specific whistle-type calls are available. The rhythm when calling green-wings can be seen phonetically as peep! Peep-peep! Peep. ![]() That is, they make a high-pitched whistled PEEP! - short of duration and high in volume. ![]() Green-wing teal, on the other hand, are what I’ll call peepers. However, they do require more air pressure and a radical departure from the traditional mallard cadence. Teal-specific calls, however, are tuned higher out-of-the-box. More air and tongue pressure increases the pitch, and all that leaves is to step up the cadence or rhythm. Many folks, myself included, use a traditional mallard call on blue-wings. The differences are in the pitch, which is much higher, and the cadence, which is much quicker. The basic call for blue-wings is very similar to the hen mallard’s greeting call. There’s a difference between teal in terms of calls and calling. Better yet, wait until the birds have landed, entice them closer with the promise of company using the whine, then practice the art of jump-shooting. Then, when they’re within 100 yards or so, the whine, the aforementioned peep-whistle of peet - w-o-o-O-O-I-T, or simply the rising whistle portion of the call can convince them to light. Sometimes the high-pitched creeeeek - creeeeek in-flight call of the wood duck will get a flock’s attention. Coincidence? Perhaps, but that one-in-a-million occasion was enough to convince me that when a flying wood duck wants to listen, he will. However, I did on one occasion see a small flock change course and return to a timbered pothole where a cousin of mine, wood duck call in hand, had just called to them in their peet - w-o-o-O-O-I-T rising whistle. It’s been my experience that 99% of the woody population will ignore a wood duck call. I’d have to branch out and come to grips with the fact that some ducks don’t quack. From that point on, I decided if I wanted to attract more ducks to my decoy spread, I’d have to learn to speak their language. Rolling trills and odd guttural groans audibles seemingly out of place in the duck marsh, but there they were. When I moved to Washington state in ’93, I learned there was more to life than just quacks and quacking. ![]() When my waterfowling career began in 1974, I knew only mallard duck calls and the traditional quack in its three or four variations. Producer: John Kessler Executive Producer: Chris Peterson © 2012 Tune In to Nature.Beyond the quack: Learn the different duck sounds of common speciesīy M.D. # Calls of the Wood Duck provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Or share a photograph of one of these gorgeous ducks, at. If you’d like to build a nest box for a Wood Duck, find plans on our website. Many are now nesting in large boxes we provide for them. The ability of Wood Ducks to modify their behavior and accept our presence, bodes well for their future. However, Wood Ducks are adapting rather well to humans and in winter they can be found in many city parks where they accept handouts along with resident Mallards. They usually find a hole where a large branch has broken off and the heartwood has rotted out. Wood Ducks are among a small number of North American waterfowl that nest in cavities in fairly large trees located in forested wetlands. Although you’re less likely to hear it, the male responds with this call: In summer though, once the female is on the nest, the male deserts her. Her call tells the male where his mate is, and that’s important as the pair stays together through much of the winter and spring. She gives a loud whoo-eek while in flight. BirdNote ® Wood Ducks Succeed This is BirdNote! Your eye may be drawn to the gorgeous male Wood Duck, but it’s the call of the less colorful female you’ll hear. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |