'female ducks' is redundant. Ducks ARE females, drakes are males! It is just normal behaviour lacking a male, even when a male may be present. Its similar to cattle, horses and other animals when they are in estrus, sometimes the females even mount the males. It may stimulate ovulation.

Gee whiz. I'm usually pretty nice but your neighbors are seriously immature -- they've got the sensibility of small children who think the world revolves around their whims. If you're not willing to talk to your landlord, then I think in addition to protecting your plants, some other way of getting the critters directly to them is a great idea. Now trellis store bought is expensive, but maybe if you have help, you could get several real thin trim-type pieces of wood together literally like a little ladder, and fix it up so that it will lead ALL the critters directly up to their balcony. They can have the joy of personally feeding critters and cleaning up after them, they'll love it. Then take some pepper spray (nothing that will hurt critters, but which they might hate), I think you could work out some kind of pump extension, and anything that hangs over their balcony so much as 1 mm, spray the thing above you (don't look up -- there's gotta be a way to do it without hurting yourself!) so the animals will avoid it or at least all the part of it anywhere near the outside. Eventually if your neighbors don't figure it out (even if they do, so what), they will realize that for some reason the animals don't eat out of the ones off the edge and they do eat out of the ones on the porch. So they can just put out food ON their porch, since the critters are right there -- rather than hanging off it to try and 'get it to' the critters -- and falling into yours. They get the critters close up, and you get less hanging over you stuff. That doesn't address where they bury things of course, but it might deal with the constant droppings issue. Give the smallest slant to the 'ladder' and the cats can climb it too. I really like critters and feed them myself but wouldn't go about it in the way described, sheesh. PJ

Hi,Kate. It doesn't appear to be bees swarming. Usually done right after the sun rises and they are not aggressive at all. I do know that the bees go off to work (LOL) right as the sun begins to rise. This is why beekeepers place the hives entrance facing toward the east. They could have been bees confused with the bright light mimicking the sun. It does seem to be unusual. When bees are confused as the ones you described is best to give them room for they are probably testy. Bees and bats have been acting peculiar in the last years. Our communication systems may be the culprit then again, this are the ENDTIME! Don't let them sting you my friend. Felix

Any suggestions what I can do to stop them? The fake owl I bought is not working.