Ducks...

There are several different sayings that involve ducks.

"Sitting duck," refers to a person or thing with no protection against danger.  Having lived with ducks, I have experienced first hand their behavior when they are nesting.  They "set," on their nest, only leaving it once or twice a day to eat, drink and defecate. They go into a trance like state, just being a source of warmth for their unhatched ducklings.  It is touching, yet rather stupid, too, because

if they nest outside of their safe coop, they are at the mercy of any bird of prey, fox, coyote, or any other critter than likes to eat duck. And most predators very much like to eat duck. 

And this brings us to another saying.  "Like shit through a goose."  I know we are talking about ducks here, but trust me, geese and ducks have very similar poop issues.  They have a water based diet, so their poop is very wet. And they poop a lot. Like, every 5 minutes or so.  And if the duck in question has been on her nest and holding poop for hours and hours, when she gets off the nest and lets fly, it is an impressive thing.  Huge, wet, odoriferous explosions.  It isn't pretty.

Then there is the saying, "Ducks in a row." Though this expression probably refers to the sort of shooting target where one lines up silhouettes of  ducks for shooting practice, real ducks do very often travel about in a row.

This is particularly true if it is a mama duck with her adorable ducklings. The wee ones toddle along behind their mother, and that is about the cutest thing you can imagine.  They do this all on their own, but if you were to try to get your ducks in a row?  Well, good luck to that.  Ducks are not terribly cooperative in this way.  Having tried to move the ducks that live here at FairWinds from point A to point B has taught me that "getting your ducks in a row," is far easier said than done.

And then there is the idiom, "Like a duck to water." This refers to someone learning a skill easily. Ducklings have no trouble learning how to swim, it's as natural as breathing. And it's important to ducks to have access to water. A few years back I bought two ducks from an auction. They were filthy dirty, and clearly had not had access to water to splash in for a long time. It made me sad, because ducks need water. They cannot eat properly unless they can dip their bill, all the way up to their nostrils, in water. And psychologically?  They need to get into water to splash and play and clean their feathers.  Those two auction ducks were so excited when they had fresh water to get into.  It makes me think about how when a person takes to a skill like a duck does to water, that they should pursue that skill, because it is probably important to their very being. Like water is to ducks.