Thanks for sharing your duck story 13 years ago. We just moved into an apartment with a duck pond 50' from our back porch and it's got all different kinds of ducks and geese. The ducks are nicer and there are different ones, ratty ones, mean ones, wussy ones, skinny ones, fat ones...very often a new gang of teenie tiny ones under mom's feets. They're always fighin for territory or humpin each other. It is quite the backyard reality show. The geese are another story, there is this one that looks different than the rest and he's always causing trouble with the ducks. He's the alpha goose and he doesn't let anyone forget it for a minute. Somebody needs to mess his 6.75lb feathered butt up. Alpha goose pic included.

what about black crested ducks, is this a mallard exclusive or any ducks. will they eat baby fish? I have an acre lake that is quite deep full of cat, perch and bass. We put geese and 4 ducks on for foliage clean-up. Some are saying they are eating the babies. Don't know who they can tell cause the ducks swim away as soon as anyone come near. I raised them in a pen for a while and know they smack ninety miles a hour in the mud for stuff, so not sure if that's what they are seeing. We are arguing about whether they are eating the fish. Help!

Thats true! Its aslo easy to tell the leaves appart once you see the different shapes. Some are very deeply notched, some are big and sort of a rounded tear drop shape. Others are smaller. When you do decide to start getting rid of the ones you dont want, folks will sugjest all sorts of methods. One organic method that works for me has been to clip all the vines I can get to, to about 7 inches from the ground. Then rake or pitchfork through the area, or weed whack it, or what ever you have to do to be able to see the ground. Then dig the roots. This is not as daunting as it seems. Many runners go back to the same big knoted root. digging down around the root below the dirt will reveal a smaller tap toot or (or 2or3 ) cut these with your loppers. if you are facing a huge thicket, just start at the edge, and cut back vines 4 feet or so at a time. HINT: it takes a little longer, but if you stack the limb/vines as you go in a bundle going the same direction as best you can combining the small piles into big ones, there is very little clean up and they fit into the yard debree/utility trailor better. You probably dont want to compost these unless you have lots of spare room, the leaves will drop off quickly, but the stalks can take a couple years to break down. Some bigger ones Ive found dry a year later and actually used as sarter fuel for the fire. It can be done, but you will have to go back and keep the area clear of roots that you missed for a couple years. the point of triming them back first, is that if you didnt get them all dug now, you could do it in the fall, but you dont want them going to seed, or more likely tip rooting. every where a vine lops over ands touches the ground, it will try to plant a root. My garden was at one point almost taken over by these monsters. Now they are about 98% under control. It was lots of work but well worth it to do the right thing. I can look at all the little birds and critters guilt free, since I used no toxins in this process.

Hey -- that's pretty neat! Well, my ornate box turtles eat small snakes, but I'd just as well they didn't if they are rat snakes, the only kind I've seen in my yard except for one coral snake that I stepped on barefoot. It didn't react at all like to try to bite me, but just crawled on off. Coral snakes are very non agressive and Texas coral snake's mouth is small and teeth are in the back near their throat so they can't inject venom unless you stick your little finger down their throat.. Also have had 'ring-tail cats' a member of the racoon family, under the deck. They really cleared out a lot of rats. I haven't seen a rat in ages. The paper wasps keep pecan tree aphids in check. And now that I don't use pesticides I know there are many beneficial insects that are natural predators of pest insects that slug it out on a level not immediately observable except in their positive effects. And there's the anole lizards. I've had them dart right in front of my eyes totally oblivious to me and grab a roach. Yesterday one dropped off a shrub and caught a roach on the ground. I'm sure they and the grey fence lizards eat a lot of insects. My dogs chase squirrels, but have only caught a couple of young ones. They've also caught a rat or two. This is all I can think of. How about the rest of you? Here is a link that might be useful: 'Ring tailed cat' ...