I am the father of a teenage daughter, so for me, the phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” is now permanently associated with Taylor Swift, who includes the line in the lyrics to her song, Bejeweled. The adage is usually attributed to Aesop, which means it predates Miss Swift by over 2,500 years. Timeless wisdom indeed! With some birds, like these black-bellied whistling ducks, I can see the point. While I am always thrilled to see them, attractive and interesting ducks that they are, I can imagine that one might grow tired of their presence. As the name suggests, they do, in fact, whistle—quite a lot, actually. As nocturnal feeders, they do much of their whistling at night, and in areas where they are abundant (much of the southern U.S.), they do it in large numbers. I’m sure a huge flock of noisy whistling ducks bustling around the neighborhood pond in the middle of the night can get old. I am also sure that, like so many things that grow familiar over time, we would miss them terribly if they were gone.
BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS (Dendrocygna autumnalis)