A STUDY OF LIFE ON WESTERN POND

II. Relevance
The group from last year studied the effects that colors had on the swans, and how they acted before and after they were fed. They floated balls of certain colors in the pond and watched the swans to see how they reacted, whether they swam up to them, attacked them, or swam away. They also studied the swans fifteen minutes before and after they were fed in order to see if there was any change in their behavior. One of the students' problems was that one of the swans is blind and didn't react to any of the colors. This threw off their results and added an extra variable.
We also read many articles on different types of swans and birds and their individual behaviors. We found out that the swans on Western Pond are Mute Swans, and that the white birds, which we first thought were Tundra Swans, are just regular geese. The other bird, the Turkey Duck, was harder for us to classify. We researched three different bird classification books in hopes of identifying the bird. Yet, we were unable to find any material that classified the bird. This led us to believe that the bird was some type of hybrid. As a result, we named it a Turkey Duck because of its turkey like appearance. Through our readings we found that, generally, geese are more aggressive than swans, so our hypothesis proved true, that there is definitely a difference in the behavior of certain birds that live in close proximity. Furthermore, Mute Swans have been domesticated since the eleventh century, whereas geese are less commonly domesticated. We felt that this is a direct result of their behavior patterns.
Our research relates to the real world by how the swans react to humans in a natural environment. We think that we can actually use this information to help build more suitable environments for captured and bred birds to safely live in. We will be able to judge the comfort zones of these birds and then apply it to the real world to help out actual places which keep these birds and help them to figure out how close humans can come to them before they get aggressive. Other studies like this will aid us in determining whether or not humans have effected animals in their environment, and if so, how much. Also, having the results of this study may help us to structure a better environment for the swans or other animals in general.

IV. Materials and Methods
We studied the birds on Western Pond throughout the day to observe their habit and record their reactions toward our actions. Our ideas were to observe their behavior, and where the birds are during different times of the day, and see if they stayed in one particular section. Then comparing where they are to the other birds, their reactions, and the time of day, weather, and sun and shade. The sun and shade aspect was dropped because the information was insignificant and irrelevant. The weather was also dropped, as it too was insignificant. We also planned on introducing different sounds to them and observing their reaction. We were going to deal with different pitches, volume levels and types of music, but we never got to introduce the sounds to the birds because we changed our experiment before we got to that part. We feel that our design is statistically sound because we studied the birds at different times of the day in order to get different results. Also, we have included many ideas from other people in our class, who have critiqued our proposal on the Internet. We don't think that our results are biased because each person had to study the birds at different times and each will have a different effect on the birds, so we will have different results for each time.
Some materials we used include:
Our voices- just to see if different voices have different effects
Food- to see if the swans will eat out of our hands after they grow accustomed to our voices and actions, and to see if their behavior is different according to our actions.
Thermometer- to see what temperature it is when we study the swans
Measuring tape- to measure distances
We also asked the class to add any additional information they might come across. For example, if someone would happen to pass the pond and write down significant information they might have seen, or any information at all. We also gave the class members charts to fill out at different times to add to our information so that we will have more results to study. We think that the students were honest while filling out the charts but we really have no influence on their behavior so we just have to trust them.
A typical schedule that we would follow after arriving at the pond would be:
1. To observe all the animals, swans, geese, and turkey ducks from a far.
2. To approach the closest animals and observe their reactions: relaxed,
slightly relaxed, nervous, agitated, aggressive, and retreat.
3. Then to feed the animals, typically the swans, to see how close we can
get, and to see if their reactions differ.
4. To test any other ideas or concerns-color, noise, and other possible tests.
Results
Throughout our group-generated lab, our group basically observed the behavior of all life on Western Pond. We could not perform a study of questions to ask the animals nor could we study their growth over time. Instead, we primarily studied their locations in and or around the pond during varying studies. We used different variables during each study such as walking, standing, and feeding. In the early stages of our study, we were going to observe the two swans and one goose during different times of day, weather conditions, etc. Through understanding how the swans, geese, mallards, and turkey duck(s) reacted to our final studies, we could interpret the information into developing a healthy habitat for the animals. We learned their comfort zones by measuring the distances of when the birds first became slightly relaxed, nervous, agitated, experience aggression, and finally retreated.
To much of our surprise, all three species did not retreat significantly after each study. Although the geese were furious when one would enter their territory, they did not retreat much, if at all, the majority of the time. In actuality, they retreated the least amount of time (approximately 80% of the time). They hardly retreated to the bridge or far back. Since they primarily favored the peninsula, this was one of the areas where they chose to retreat to and guard.
The turkey ducks came in a close second in amounts of time that they did not retreat (75% of the time). Contrasting to the geese's locations, the turkeys enjoyed retreating to the far back side of the pond for fear of people and the fox that later murdered one of them. Consequently, they also chose retreating to their favored area of the peninsula where they enjoyed spending time with the geese.
Thus, the swans did not retreat the least amount of times (approximately 60% of the time). They favored retreating to the middle of the pond to keep an equal distance between them and the people and other animals. The swans never retreated to the far backside of the pond and hardly to the trees. Depending upon whether or not we entered through the bridge determined if they would retreat there. In times that we didn't enter over the bridge, they felt comfortable retreating there.
In addition to studying their comfort zones, we also discovered where the animals spent most of their time on the pond. The study was split into measuring ten separate locations of the pond: along the wall, middle of the pond, the peninsula, along the bridge, by the small tree, far back, along the trees, by the fish statue, on land by the big tree, and far back-creek. The swans enjoyed spending the majority of their time relaxing by the wall, searching for left over scraps of food, or swimming around in the middle part of the pond by the springs. Another area where they spent time was by the fish statues, searching for food. They spent the remainder of their day equally among the rest of the pond with the least amount of time spent along the trees. Their time was spent over there only on times of retreat and when feeding was done on this location.
The geese' favorite location was somewhat similar to that of the swans. During times of feeding and searching for scraps, they spent the majority of their time along the wall. They enjoyed lounging on the peninsula primarily, complaining to those that they felt were not welcome in their territory. When the weather permitted, they swam around in the middle of the pond and spent little time along the rest of the pond. All of this remaining time was equal to the amount they spent on the peninsula.
Turkey ducks enjoyed spending much of their time following the geese because the geese did not play games chasing the helpless turkeys as they did to the bigger swans. Turkey ducks spaced there time almost equally along the pond but focused on the peninsula. They spent no time along the trees but spent much of their time on land by the big tree and tended to retreat to the far backside of the pond. They favored swimming over there, far away from the swans and people, rather than in the middle of the pond. This, along with along the wall, by the fish statue, and far back in the creek, were areas where they spent the least amount of time enjoying.
In between the tests of retreating and where they spent most of their time, or were at least first seen, were studies determining the mean distances for their behavioral stages. It was clear to us that the geese were relaxed when they were at long distances from us (around 35-40 meters). The swans were the most relaxed around us (15 meters) with the turkey ducks in a close second (around 15-16 meters). This variable could somewhat be considered not precise due to the fact that occasionally we would be feeding them, or standing by their food.
Obviously, as one would get closer to the species, one would believe that they would tend to become more agitated with time. The first stage of this would be becoming slightly relaxed, a little more nervous than before. The Geese again had the furthest comfort zone (around 25-26 meters) with the swans and geese being somewhat similar once again. Swans and turkey ducks were both comfortable around 6-7 meters from us.
In the nervous stage, the distances of all three began to become significantly different. The geese began to be nervous at approximately 17-18 meters. The swans began to be a little less passive than the turkey ducks and started to get nervous around 4 meters from us. The turkeys were a little bit friendlier and didn't get nervous until you were within about 2-3 meters from them.
In the agitated stage, we would have to be right by the swans and turkey swans to show obvious signs that we were not welcome. Geese, however, got agitated and began to quack real loud, annoying sounds and flap their wings around 11 meters from us. The swans made the same signs with a less annoying and softer quack at roughly half a meter from us. You would have to be right up on the turkey ducks for them to start throwing their necks back and forth or chase you at their fastest and incredibly slow pace.
The aggression stage pulled yet another surprise on us. The geese would come up on us sneaky style and get to within a meter before showing aggression, chase us out of the pond, and once again show that they were "kings of the pond". Another surprise was that the swans would back off (approximately a fifth of a meter) before showing aggression; this measurement could be false due to the fact that this could be in a feeding stage. One would believe that they would get closer before showing aggression. However, in multiple cases, we found that the swans could get to within a foot before standing straight up, throwing back their wings at you, and finally chasing you faster out of the pond than you would ever believe. Again, the turkey ducks would not show much aggression. They were basically helpless to others due to their slow speed. This proved fatal in further studies when we discovered that one turkey duck did not show enough aggression when a fox got up to it. They do the same thing to us, probably because they are not fast enough, and let us right up to pet them sometimes. Its beak and neck are not nearly fast or strong enough to scare one away.
The typical distances of retreat for the species were approximately what we had previously expected. As stated earlier, the geese would retreat to the furthest location and would feel comfortable around 10 meters from us. Turkey ducks came in second by retreating to about one meter on average. Due to the passive and dull personalities of the swans, they were happy retreating a relatively small distance (roughly a quarter of a meter).
The entire variable stated above has varied in our studies due to the test type. These distances stated above were the mean distances of each species relative to the three studies: walking, standing, and feeding. In all cases, the studies would vary on all three species. An example would be that the swans were relaxed at a further distance during the standing test while the geese were further relaxed during the walking stage. Finally, the turkey ducks were relaxed with the standing stage being the furthest and feeding stage being the closest. The main reason why these studies vary could be due to the fact that at times we were walking over to the species and not away the majority of the time. Upon walking to them, we would later feed them and again this could prove our measurements to be somewhat incorrect and not quite accurate. Thus, the mean distances combined by all of the studies provide us with a more precise measurement for each study.

Conclusion:
In Conclusion, I feel that our methods of sampling gave us unbiased results. Going into this project we were unsure of what we were to expect. Thus, early on in this project we found ourselves constantly changing our methods of sampling the species. We researched the group that studied the swans last year and found that they too had troubles establishing a good means of testing the animals. Finally, we pieced together what the problems were with our project and set up a sampling technique that was effective in testing our hypothesis.
Many other Natural Systems students have used the Western Pond and its inhabitants in their student generated labs. Also, as previously referenced, students have studied the behaviors of the western swans. However, we are the first to incorporate all the permanent birds that live on the pond. At first we planned only to study the swans. However, we felt that in order to fully understand the behavioral patterns of animals we must study more than one species because by studying multiple species we were able to compare the species to one another.
On a whole, we feel that we thoroughly studied all of the questions that we were pursuing through this lab. However, we still have questions concerning our project. For instance, why are the geese antisocial compared to the turkey ducks and swans? Is it because of an inherent quality or is it a facet of its character that is a result of its habitat? Also, was the animals' characteristic behaviorism a result of our method of testing? Meaning, would we have gotten dramatically different results if we had tested our hypothesis differently? These are all questions that we would like to study if given the chance to further investigate.

Literature Cited:

Declacour, Jean. The Waterfowl of the World. London: Country Life Limited, 1954.

Balsassaree, Guy A., and Eric G. Bolen. Waterfowl Ecology and Management. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc,1994.

Owen, Myrfyn, and Jeffrey M. Black. Waterfowl Ecology. London: Blackie, 1990.

Soothill, Eric and Peter Whitehead. Wildfowl of the World. Poole: Blanford Press, 1978.

Gooders, John and Trevor Boyer. Ducks of North America. New York: Facts On File Publications, 1986.

Madge, Steve, and Hilary Burn. Waterfowl: An Identification Guide. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988.

Next Article
Previous Article
Return to the Topic Menu

Here is a list of responses that have been posted to this Study...

• Sounds too difficult (12/13/99) [ Contributor: Amanda Blevins-Section: Myers ]

Respond to this Submission!

IMPORTANT: For each Response, make sure the title of the response is different than previous titles shown above!

Visit the rest of the site!