A Duck Walk, in My Collage for LMAC #173

Another duck-themed post! Obviously, I love these birds🦆

Duck Walk, Version #1

Duck Walk, Version #2

The template photo offered this week by @shaka in the LMAC Collage Contest was challenging for me. The photo is spectacular, but collage creation for me is a time to relax. Cityscapes and industry do not induce (for me ) relaxation.

Template Photo by @shaka

The two collages at the top of the page were the result of many, many attempts. I was trying to make the fluffy animals in the sky look cloudlike. Finally, with the help of a Lunapic filter, I was able to do that.

The zany collage below this paragraph, was fun to make and I hope it gets a giggle from at least one observer.

Frenetic

Ducks, Ducks and More Ducks

I'm sorry to say that the cute ducks featured in my collages, Pekin Ducks, were bred for eating. The Chinese, who seem to have a knack for breeding ducks, created the Pekin in the 19th century. It seems the Chinese have been expertly breeding ducks for thousands of years (since 500BC).

While it was once believed that the mallard was ancestor to all modern ducks, that theory has been blown out of the water by genomic tracing. The new studies indicate that all ducks descended some 38 thousand years ago form an as yet unidentified wild species.

Female (Brown) and Male (Green/Purple Head) Mallards

Credit: @agmoore from LIL, the LMAC Gallery Library

Ducks are partly distinguished from geese by a characteristic waddle. This gait is attributed to the placement of the duck's legs, which face rearward, rather than forward.

Note the dignified pace of the geese in the video below

And the waddle of the duck

Though some people may regard the Pekin duck with an eye toward meat consumption, there are other 'uses' to which the bird may be put. These animals are congenial and make great pets. They also are great for producing eggs.

They are generally not expensive to keep, as they will scavenge for their food. Their scavenging diet need only be supplemented with modest amounts of poultry grain. And, the ducks have hardy immune systems.

Ducks generally are great for insect control, especially mosquitoes, although other breeds of duck seem to be more effective at eliminating mosquitoes than the Pekin. Plus, duck poo generally is great natural fertilizer.

Pekin Duck, Looking Almost Stately

Credit: agmoore

I know some people will look at the picture of the duck above and see meat. Not me. I see a most lovely creature. I could not imagine putting this beautiful animal on a plate.

My Collage

As I have explained already in this blog, I prefer nature and a rural environment to commerce and an urban environment. However, the challenge is to work with the template, so that's what I did. In my first collage, (A Duck Walk, Version #1), I ignored the buildings completely and worked with the bridge and the water. In the second, (A Duck Walk,Version #2), I found a way to use the buildings by putting them in the background.

Personally, I prefer #1, because it is simpler. My husband prefers the frenetic GIF. With that collage, I had a bit of fun with the insects and ducks :)

I used only LIL images this week, based of course on the template. Thank you to the following LIL contributors for their rich contribution to my weekly collage exercise:

@muelli
Frog

@redheadpei
Blue boat

@yaziris
White cat

@alex2alex
Rabbit

@marilour
Clouds

@marilour
Foreground strip of land

@borjan
Grasshopper

@borjan
Rhinoceros beetle

Me (@agmoore)
Grass
and
Swan
Ducks--pictures will be contributed to LIL in my next LIL post.

The collage was all over the place until I decided on a design. Once I settled on using the bridge and the water, things went pretty smoothly. The progress (approximately) can be traced in the following images:

LMAC and LIL

Every week I look forward to discovering the template photo that will be the basis for the community's collages. Each of us in the LMAC community meets that challenge in a different way. Please check out the LMAC curation feed to learn how creative insight offered unique perspectives on this week's template.

What might you have done with this template?

Selecting finalists for the ultimate part of the contest is never easy. Everyone who competes is a winner (I don't compete), but the Hive community selects the official winners. This week's roster of winners will be published today. Would the winner have been your choice? All of Hive can vote in the contest.

Tomorrow a new template will be published. Make a collage and join in the fun.

You can see that LIL, the LMAC Image Library, was an essential part of my collage creating process this week. Everyone on Hive can contribute to the library and everyone can borrow from the library. Learn about the procedure here.

I wish all my readers peace and health.

Thank you for reading my blog
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