[Jo48]

what is with Florida's Muscovy ducks? BIG and DUMB! There are a lot of them where I live, but what happened today just proves the aforementioned.

We have a lot of wildlife, including "Florida" ducks, and also Mallards. My daughter (20s New Yorker) thought the Muscovy's were TURKEYS! They come and go here, in addition to the Mallards.

Today was a nice cool day and I let my INDOOR only cats out on my lanai. I never leave them outside alone unless I am nearby. I heard a major commotion. The cats were howling, hissing, and my girl was trying to claw through the screens. Why? A pair of these ducks were within INCHES of the lanai and these ducks were apparently totally oblivious to the preditor nature of felines. My cats were going ballistic. There were a pair of Mallards also, but they were several feet away.

I decided to go outside and chase the ducks away from the lanai. As soon as I went outside, the Mallards flew away, but NOT the Muscovys. I was stomping my feet, waving my arms, and yelling, but they wouldn't BUDGE. I literally had to chase them, VERY SLOWLY, still screaming, to get them to MOVE. I had to chase them down to lake before they would leave.

If these animals aren't afraid of HUMANS, I suppose they won't be afraid of cats, dogs, or any other preditor. BIG and DUMB birds. How do these birds even survive in a populated area?

[boxus]

They are domesticated, feral at the most, they usually are not afraid of humans, or at least keep just out of arms length. If something is threatening enough, they will leave. They can be quite aggressive towards something small like a cat, they can inflict serious harm on a cat.

[crazynip]

Muscovy ducks are NOT a mative species. You can actually kill them at will, they are deemed a "nuisance animal". Dont believe me, look them up.

I believe they were imported from Europe back in the day.

[boxus]

They are from Mexico or something like that, they are considered an invasive species in the US except for a few places near Mexico.

[doggiebus]

Like boxus already mentioned they are domesticated ducks, so they aren't afraid of humans. They are afraid of dogs though.

All your screaming, flaring arms, honking your car horn at them does nothing for them. All this only makes your blood pressure rise. We have them in our neighborhood (some hate them, but most of the people like them). When I see people honking at them in the street, I tell people to stop honking your horn at them it doesn't work. Just role your car forward a little and they will move. Ohhh that works, is their next response I typically get. If their in your yard, calmly herd them to where you want them to go, they will move. No need to swing your hands in the air and yell at them, unless you want to give your neighbors a laugh.

Look, you have to see them as part of living in Florida. You must live near a lake or a canal because that is where they are mostly found? They eat things in your yard actually, which is good. There are areas in Florida that don't have these ducks, if you want to live without them in your yard.

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Those ducks are used to coexisting with feral cats and are fed by humans. Ferals won't attack them because they are too big. I've seen them eating pet food and the feral cats just watch them Dogs are not a problem for them either seen most people walk their dogs with a leash and street dogs get picked up by animal control. Sometimes cars run over them.

[Sweetbottoms]

They are big and dumb but NEARLY as annoying as the geese were up north when they'd fly over ur house honking at 530 am. Besides let's face it they are just ducks perhaps ur expectation of a higher thinking is set above the rest. Now the geese they were terrible s d will do a whole lot more damage to the bumper. For the most part I leave em alone I think their little ducklings are the cutest fluffiest little thing I ever saw in spring. We have a whole array of em here where I live and even a few that r all grey and we have one completely white one which is really neat. They're just as dirty and disease ridden as any you'll find up north and they're not any smarter up there either