Sweet Little Ducks

So tonight I spent the evening standing on the lower platform hoping to see some bears before I went back to the cabin. I did not see any bears. I di however see a common merganser with eight chicks. She and her little family were just relaxing on the river. Then along came a mother mallard she too had chicks with her, eight of them also. So there they were two happy families sharing a small section of the river. Mother merganser did not like the fact that mother mallard was near her and her chicks and vocally let her know that this was her territory. The female mallard ignored her and her and her family continued feeding in the area. Now the Brooks River is big enough for all of them but the merganser was getting wuite worked up about the mallard family moving into her territroy and she moved closer so that the mother mallard could hear her loud squawks. As she got close to the mallard, the mallard duck tried to bite the merganser. This started an actual duck brawl between the two mothers. Both of the females were swimming around each other biting and squawking while the 16 chicks just swam around together wondering what to do. Finally the merganser got the upper hand and bit the mallard in the neck. Mother mallard called to her chicks and the family swam away. I have worked with waterfowl for many years I have never seen two species fight each other. Another first for me in Alaska. It makes look at ducklings in a whole new light.