Paul Wylie
2004-05-20 20:08:25 UTC
A couple of months ago, my wife and I were surprised to discover a pair of
mallard ducks (a male and a female) in our swimming pool They swam around
in the pool for awhile, taking occasional drinks and eventually flew off.
I'd always assumed the duck family living in Tony Soprano's pool was a
fantasy, but now I know better.
At any rate, at the time these ducks visited, a series of storms had left
a lot of crud in the pool and the filter hadn't caught up yet, so we
assumed they would not have been attracted to a clean pool.
Boy, were we wrong.
We've had ducks in the pool at least once or twice a week ever since.
Sometimes, it's a male/female pair, other times it's an individual male or
female and occasionally, we've had a pair of females or (much rarer) a
pair of males, so I seriously doubt we're being repeatedly visited by the
same couple of ducks.
Last week, I was outside grilling burgers when I heard "Fwop wop wop wop
SPLOOSH!" I turned around to see a male in the pool. He quacked a few
times and eventually decided he didn't want company, so he flew off.
Over the weekend, my wife declared the ducks a nuisance because they
leave droppings in the pool itself and on the deck, so we'll begin taking
steps to discourage their visits. I've seen indications that reflective
mylar strips (such as could be obtained by hacking up an old cassette
tape) can do a fine job of discouraging birds, so we'll probably try that.
I live near a golf course where most of these ducks seem to come from, so
I'm curious why they're choosing my pool instead of a golf course pond.
Is this a common phenomenon? I've seen numerous references to ducks
in swimming pools on the Internet, so I'm guessing it's not unheard of,
but still, I've been very surprised by how often I find ducks in my pool.
--Paul
** Note "removemunged" in email address and remove to reply. **
mallard ducks (a male and a female) in our swimming pool They swam around
in the pool for awhile, taking occasional drinks and eventually flew off.
I'd always assumed the duck family living in Tony Soprano's pool was a
fantasy, but now I know better.
At any rate, at the time these ducks visited, a series of storms had left
a lot of crud in the pool and the filter hadn't caught up yet, so we
assumed they would not have been attracted to a clean pool.
Boy, were we wrong.
We've had ducks in the pool at least once or twice a week ever since.
Sometimes, it's a male/female pair, other times it's an individual male or
female and occasionally, we've had a pair of females or (much rarer) a
pair of males, so I seriously doubt we're being repeatedly visited by the
same couple of ducks.
Last week, I was outside grilling burgers when I heard "Fwop wop wop wop
SPLOOSH!" I turned around to see a male in the pool. He quacked a few
times and eventually decided he didn't want company, so he flew off.
Over the weekend, my wife declared the ducks a nuisance because they
leave droppings in the pool itself and on the deck, so we'll begin taking
steps to discourage their visits. I've seen indications that reflective
mylar strips (such as could be obtained by hacking up an old cassette
tape) can do a fine job of discouraging birds, so we'll probably try that.
I live near a golf course where most of these ducks seem to come from, so
I'm curious why they're choosing my pool instead of a golf course pond.
Is this a common phenomenon? I've seen numerous references to ducks
in swimming pools on the Internet, so I'm guessing it's not unheard of,
but still, I've been very surprised by how often I find ducks in my pool.
--Paul
** Note "removemunged" in email address and remove to reply. **