Duck shooting madness

Yet another duck season has been called in Victoria. Madness. Sadness.

In this post I’ll share some of my favourite images of native waterbirds that can legally be shot during this year’s cruel and archaic duck shooting season. I’ve shared graphic images in the past but I don’t have the stomach for it today, I think we’ve all had more than enough sadnesses to cope with over the past year.

Chestnut Teal numbers are well below the long-term average, along with other native waterbirds. Overall native waterbird numbers are down 90% since Professor Kingsford’s UNSW aerial surveys began in 1983.

The colours of these ducks are stunning, the rich chestnut looks gorgeous with the iridescent green/black of their necks and heads.

This year Grey Teal and Chestnut Teal can only be shot if south of the Princes Highway. This relates to the serious decline in Grey Teal numbers.

Female Chestnut Teal look similar to Grey Teal (males and females) but they are slightly darker and lack the white neck. This one was enjoying an early morning splash, which is always a lovely sight. The droplets of water make pretty patterns as the ducks ruffle their feathers.

Such a distinct and beautiful species! They are named for the tiny pink spot just behind the ear. They could also be named for their zebra stripes or their specialised bills.

Pink-eared Ducks are a small species that have a fascinating way of working together to feed. They stir up microscopic plants and animals, and use fine grooves at the sides of their bills as filters. In the image above they were circling together, taking advantage of their joint ability to increase food in the water. I like the way the closest bird has its eye above the waterline.

Many of our bird species form long term family bonds, I hate to think how the horrors of the duck shooting season impact committed pairs.

Seriously cute! Ducklings are possibly the cutest of all baby birds. They are precocial, able to feed themselves almost immediately after hatching. They rely on their parents to keep them safe until they are able to fly. I’m constantly astounded by how brilliantly the parent ducks are able to look after such big families. Female Maned Ducks sometimes lay their eggs in another Maned Duck’s nest. This can result in large numbers of ducklings appearing to belong to one pair. The largest family I saw was twenty-nine ducklings, and there were still twenty-nine of them several weeks later!

Despite seriously low numbers Hardhead can legally be shot this year.

None of our declining waterbirds should be shot but at the very least the GMA have deigned to restrict some species – but WHY not Hardhead?According to Birdlife Australia: “It is important to note that two game species, Australasian Shoveler and Hardhead, have both recently satisfied threatened species criteria in the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s 2020 independent Conservation Status Assessment Project. The species retained Vulnerable status assigned in the Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and the revised Advisory List of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna 2013 by satisfying Commonwealth approved Common Assessment Method (CAM) criteria based on international standards developed by IUCN2. Given the recent confirmation of the threatened status of these species BirdLife requests that they join Freckled Duck (affirmed as Endangered in the 2020 CAM) as species removed from the list of game species.”

I took this image almost a year ago. A member of the public had notified wildlife rescuers that a bird was trapped near the top of a 25metre golf fence. A huge rescue operation took place which I wrote about in Crazy Rescue, Crazy Release. It astounds me that so much care and expense can be willingly put into place to save one of these sweet native ducks but then the government can make it legal for them to be shot.

Shooters often refer to Australian Shelducks as ‘mountain ducks’. Even when killed this species can be abandoned if a tastier species is successfully shot. Then again I’ve seen most ‘game’ species abandoned as well as finding many other shot birds, including protected species.

There is something gentle-looking about ducks. I find them very relaxing to watch, except when shooters are on the wetlands.

Pacific Black duck are the quintessential duck, often seen waddling around suburban ponds and lakes with their duckings in tow.

This year’s season has upset everyone. Duck shooters are unhappy that the season has been reduced in length, that they can’t start shooting half an hour before dawn (when it’s still dark) for the first five days, and that the bag number has been reduced. Despite all evidence to the contrary and detailed information from Birdlife Australia and Professor Kingsford, shooters still claim that there are plenty of birds for them to shoot. I can never call them ‘hunters’. There is nothing remotely like hunting involved in luring ducks using decoys and calls, and then blasting them with hundreds of pellets whilst draped in camo and hidden in the bushes.

The Game Management Authority mentioned to shooters that they should “Immediately retrieve all downed game ducks and salvage at least the breast meat of harvested ducks”. This should not need to be said. But due to the nature of shotguns the spray of pellets inevitably injures about one in four birds that are hit. These birds are sometimes able to fly for a short distance, or they may fall into dense reeds or bushland where retrieval is difficult. They may have suffered horrific injuries.

And have we learned nothing regarding killing wildlife and the potential emergence of devastating viruses? There are no good reasons for this sickening ‘sport’ to be allowed to continue. Increasing numbers of politicians have spoken out against duck shooting, unfortunately the Premier and the Minister for Regional Development and Agriculture are not among them. If you would like to see the Victorian duck shooting season permanently banned (as in WA, NSW and Queensland) please send an email to daniel.andrews@parliament.vic.gov.au, mary-anne.thomas@parliament.vic.gov.au, lily.dambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au and james.merlino@parliament.vic.gov.au

Birdlife Australia wrote a comprehensive submission imploring the government not to permit a duck shooting season this year: Birdlife Australia submission and the Coalition Against Duck Shooting issued a press release condemning the season and the conflict of interest relating to the Game Management Authority: CADS Media Release

Last year one of my duck season images was a finalist in the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition: The sad story behind this devastating photograph of a Little Penguin

The two Season of Shame posts (links in right sidebar) give many details of the duck shooting season. My youngest daughter shared her heartbreaking account of witnessing the 2017 massacre at The Marshes in this account: Hope Amongst Horror

I’m a naturally optimistic person but it’s an increasingly difficult trait to hang onto.

Take care out there, happy birding, Kim

~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group  Ethical Bird Photography