HOW FAST CAN A DUCK FLY?
By R. P. HOLLAND
I LLUSTRATED
WITH
P HOTOGRAPHS
Some Original Observations on a Problem That Has Puzzled
Hunters from the Beginning
HAT is a question that
duck hunters have been
arguing about ever since
some old fellow of the
Stone Age slipped down
to the water's edge to get
the evening meal and marveled at the
speed with which those same ducks left
the water, while his piece of gravel
splashed harmlessly in the water beneath
them. And I imagine that it will always
be just as much of a question as it is at
the present time, for when we do have
the opportunity to time ducks in their
flight, how do we know that they are
doing their best? Also which of our different ducks has the most speed at his
command? You start out to-day and ask
ten old duck hunters this question, and I
will gamble you will get at least four or
five different answers, and most of them
will be very positive opinions, leaving no
further room for argument and settling
the question right there for all time.
How many times have you hunters
shot into a flock of mixed ducks and had
them go away in good formation, no
species seemingly with more speed than
his neighbor? Surely right after they
bad been shot at they would do their
best. Is it possible that all ducks fly at
about the same speed? I don't think so.
Yet I can not explain it. Time and time
again I have seen flocks of teal, with perhaps one mallard in with them, or maybe
a pair of sprigs or a gadwall. These
slower moving ducks never seem to have
any trouble in keeping up, and when you
pour four or five streaks of fire and shot
at them, did you ever see the teal go
away and leave the big ducks there at
your mercy? Still you can't reason that
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out of any regard the teal might have
for the larger ducks they would wait
for them. Of course, on the flush, some
ducks have a great deal more speed than
others, which is plainly noticeable at
times, but after some of these slow-rising
ducks get fairly launched they can clip
it off at a pretty good rate.
Several years ago I noticed a flock of
canvasbacks high up during the fall migration, and away out on one end of the
V was a little duck that looked most uncommonly like a ruddy. I grabbed for
the field glass and sure enough there he
was, a little drake ruddy, hitting it along
with those big fellows just as though he
was enjoying it. The flock was evidently traveling, and how long Mr. Ruddy
was able to keep the pace I do not know,
but apparently he was not having any
trouble doing so.
Still another time a friend of mine and
myself were sitting over decoys on the
Missouri River and we saw a flock of
seven green-wing teal and with them was
one old Canada goose. As the teal approached the decoys they began to dip
and twist, and M r . Goose seemed able to
do any of the fancy stunts that they did.
Unfortunately I am unable to report
whether or not the goose was able to
keep up the speed as they left the decoys.
Mr. George Bird Grinnell, an authority on ducks and geese, says that in
his opinion most gunners believe the
broadbill, blackhead, canvasback, and
redhead to be among the fastest of our
ducks. This may be correct, but I do
not think so. These ducks make such a
noise with their wings when they fly that
I have always thought their speed was
overestimated. I have had bluebills roar
HOW FAST CAN A DUCK FLY?
by over the decoys, making such a noise
that had you fired at them after they
had passed it would have been impossible for them to have heard the report
of the gun. In the next breath a teal
would whip over the decoys and away
again, to my mind going faster than the
bluebills. This noise that all deep-water
ducks make with their wings when in
flight is caused by the speed at which
their wings move, and not the speed at
which they themselves are traveling.
Their wings being smaller in proportion
to their weight than their shallow water
kin, it is necessary to move them much
faster to get the same rate of speed.
All deep-water ducks have more or
SHALLOW
WATER
DUCKS
FAIRLY
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A SINGLE MALLARD DUCK CROSSES
THE LINE IN 62 SECONDS
miles an hour; Dr. Coues says ninety
miles an hour or better, etc., indefinitely.
Mr. Grinnell tells in his book, "American Duck Shooting," of a friend of his
who was riding in a private car with
speed gauge attached, when some sprigs
jumped from a pond-hole along the track
and flew parallel with the train. It was
easy to see that they were forging ahead
of the train, but they were not gaining
very rapidly. As they went by the engine
the smoke seemed to scare them and they
put on more speed and went by as though
the train was standing still. At this time
the gauge showed that the train was
making fifty-two miles per hour.
I had an experience very similar to
this while riding in the observation car
on the Burlington Railway from Billings,
Montana, east. This road comes through
the sand hill country of Western Nebraska. There are a great many sloughs
BOUNCE INTO THE AIR
less trouble in rising from the water,
while the shallow-water ducks can fairly
bounce into the air. The ruddy ducks
in particular have such a hard time rising
that I think they always put the job off
as long as they can, which causes them
to fall easy prey to the fellows who
shoot out of boats. Some ducks seem to
be able to "climb" better than others. I
think that an old bald-crown can fly
straight up faster than he can in a natural position. Watch the next bunch of
widgeons that you shoot at, and see if
they don't get away pretty fast.
Getting back to the actual speed at
which a duck can fly, Mr. Grinnell says
from sixty to one hundred and twenty
A LARGE BUNCH OF BLUEBILLS DID
THE SAME STUNT IN 42 SECONDS
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OUTING
and ponds along the track, and you will
find that they are always covered with
ducks except in the winter time.
As this was a down-grade pull, we
were traveling, as near as I could find
out from the train employees, better than
sixty miles an hour. Passing one of
these ponds, a hen gadwall sprang from
the water, lined out with the train, and
easily passed it. When she flushed we
had seen the drake setting by her, but instead of flushing when she did he simply
kept turning around in the water, first
one way and then another, "getting on
his toes," as it were, ready for the jump
should he find it necessary. After we
had gone down the track some two hundred yards, I saw this old drake jump out
of the water and start after the train.
He overhauled us with apparent ease and
I watched him out of sight ahead of us.
He had evidently got to worrying about
his mate and took out after her.
Several years ago I was shooting on a
marsh that was crossed by two roads,
built up like levees to insure protection
from any possible encroachment of the
water. They made a great place for
hunters to stand and shoot the ducks
while passing over. The ducks had a
regular line of flight from a lake back
in the country down this marsh, out to
the river. It dawned on me that this
was an elegant place to time ducks, as
the roads were both on the section line
and necessarily one mile apart. The gun
was quickly put away and watch and
field glasses gotten out. There was a
fellow on the dump below me, and as he
was shooting black powder and a single
barrel gun I couldn't have asked for a
better starter on my race track.
A little bunch of ducks was approaching my friend from the rear; I saw him
raise, and when the smoke and fire
belched forth I caught the time and in
exactly 56 seconds a little bunch of sprigs
passed over me, making the rate of 64
miles per hour. All did not come as nicely
as this for me; many swerved off and
some lit in the marsh. I stayed faithfully
on the job, though, and what I got was
this: Seven bluebills crossed the tape in
46 seconds, or at the rate of 78 miles per
hour, while a large bunch of bluebills did
the same stunt in 42 seconds or at 85
miles per hour. T w o different bunches
of mallards made the trip in 56 and 59
seconds, respectively, or at 64 and 61
miles per hour; a single mallard drake in
62 seconds, or 58 miles per hour. A
mixed bunch of sprigs and mallards went
under the wire in 55 seconds, or at 65
miles per hour. This would lead one to
ALL DEEP WATER DUCKS HAVE MORE OR LESS TROUBLE IN RISING FROM
THE WATER
RUDDY DUCKS IN PARTICULAR HAVE A HARD TIME RISING
believe that the presence of the sprigs
with the mallards increased the speed of
the flock, but still they flew as a mixed
flock at one mile an hour better than
the sprigs flew by themselves.
Now for a little real speed. I timed
seven green-wing teal at 39 seconds, or
92 miles per hour, and a pair of greenwings at 40 seconds, or 90 miles per hour.
All this time my farmer boy had been
doing his best; he shot at them all, no
matter how high they were. The large
flock of bluebills scarcely raised when he
shot, so high were they. So far he had
not killed a duck, although in one of
the mallard flocks he had made one of
them take to the weeds. I was watching
a little bunch approach him when up
went the flash and one of them crumpled
out. In exactly 27 seconds I checked off
nine spoonbills, giving them the blue
ribbon for the day with a speed of 133
miles per hour. Whether the fact that
one of their number was killed made the
difference I do not know. It did not
have this effect on the bunch of mallards.
When one of their flock was hit, he did
not go straight down as the spoonbill did,
but I would think that the effect on the
flock would have been the same as in the
case of the spoonbills.
Before I get off this subject let me
add that a crow made the trip in 118
seconds, or at the rate of 30 miles an
hour. Also that there was a slight wind
blowing against the ducks, which would
have held their speed down a little. Up
to this time I had never had a great deal
of respect for a spoonbill, but I must
now take my hat off to him, and I shudder to think what those spoonies would
have done with a strong north wind under them.
Last winter I had another opportunity
to test the speed of a duck on the wing.
I had an invitation from a friend of
mine to ride with him in his hydroaeroplane on Newport Bay, California.
After we were seated in the machine,
with the powerful motor roaring in our
ears, my friend gave the signal for the
men holding her to let us go, and out
across the bay we shot, only the back end
of the pontoon touching the water. The
speed seemed to me terrific, so much
more so than when I had watched him
from land. "How fast are we going?"
I yelled almost in his ear. "You will
have to yell louder than that or get your
mouth closer to me," he replied and his
mouth all but touched my ear. The
next time I asked him he replied that we
were only doing about thirty-five or
forty miles. On account of the rush of
the water beneath us, the awful wind
pressure, combined with the noise of the
motor, the speed seemed much greater
than it really was.
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752
"Here we go!" yelled my friend, and
as he shoved forward on one of the
levers the machine rose from the water
as easily as a gull. You could feel that
the speed had increased considerably as
soon as the resistance of the water was
removed, but after we were fairly in the
air it did not seem we were going much
faster than before. I think this was
caused by our not hearing the rush of
the water thrown up by the pontoon.
Down the bay we sailed toward the inlet for about three-quarters of a mile.
I had just begun to feel a little easier
and my heart had almost returned to its
regular rate of beating when we started
to make the turn to go back. As the
machine began to "bank," I sincerely
wished I was some place else. In a second it was over and we were level again
and rushing up the bay.
Coot vs. Aeroplane
On looking back toward the ocean, I
saw an old seacoot or scooter coming in
through the inlet and heading right up
the. bay for us. Here was an opportunity
for a real race with a duck. We weren't
more than fifty feet off the water and
the duck was about the same distance in
the air. If he held his course he would
pass us at about seventy-five yards to
our right; that is, if he had speed enough
to catch us. As I looked back at him
I saw there was not the slightest doubt
that he was going to do it. I called my
friend's attention to him and motioned
him to whip up his steed. He nodded
his head in the affirmative, and immediately the motor began to roar louder and
I could feel the plane increasing in
speed. However, Mr. Coot was coming
right along, and it was not a great many
seconds until he was even with us,—not
only even with us but forging right on
ahead of us.
"Give her more power!" I yelled to
my friend. "She's got the full load
now," he answered.
"I'm afraid his
horsepower is too high for us," said the
birdman as we watched Mr. Duck
whipping it on up the bay. So much
did he gain on us that he decided to
light in less than a mile from where he
passed us. "Now watch and I'll scare
him to death," said my friend, and we
kept on up the bay right for him. "How
fast were we going when he passed us?"
I asked. "Between fifty-five and sixty
miles," was the reply.
Could it be possible that a heavy old
coot could go by us with as much ease as
he apparently did, and we moving at
that rate of speed ? All I have is my
friend's word for the speed; there was no
gauge on the plane to register it. But
after we were back on land he insisted
we were going better than fifty-five
miles and possibly sixty. His judgment
as to the speed we were going should be
pretty accurate, as he is one of the oldest
"heads" in this country at the flying
game.
On we went straight for the coot. He
was watching us as we approached, but
did not seem to realize how fast we were
coming.
When we were about fifty
yards from him he started to leave the
water, but before he could get into his
stride we had almost caught him, and in
the next second we were directly over
him. With one look up at us, he turned
straight down and hit the water with a
splash, not to show up again until we had
gone several hundred yards past and
turned around to come back. This time,
when he saw us coming back, he did not
wait one second. Into the air he went
and straight over the strip for the ocean.
I would have given a good deal to have
had a stop watch on him then, for he
was sure traveling.
Well, just how fast can a duck fly?
I am sure I don't know. For years this
problem has worried me, and for years I
have done my best to get at the facts.
The nearest I have ever come to doing
so was the day I timed the clucks on
the marsh, and it seemed to me that I
never saw ducks fly as slowly as they did
that day. I have seen times in the fall
of the year when a storm was brewing
and the ducks were so restless that they
seemed almost to double their ordinary
speed. And how many of you have had
the teal whipping by you with a strong
wind helping them, and you doing your
best and just missing one good shot after
another? You knew you were shooting
behind them, but it seemed uncanny to
lead any farther than you had been do-
HOW FAST CAN A DUCK FLY?
ing, and so you went on missing until
maybe a pair came along; you led the
hen the usual distance and killed the
drake deader than a mackerel, and he
trailing along maybe nine or ten feet
behind his spouse. When any one asks
753
my opinion as to the speed of ducks on
the wing I always answer, "Oh, from
sixty to one hundred and thirty-three
miles an hour and maybe faster." And
I guess in the future that will always
be my answer.
MR. ASKINS'S ESTIMATES
book
I Ngun"his Mr.
on "The American ShotCharles Askins presents
some interesting estimates and conclusions as to the speed of flight of various
birds. He says:
" T h e following table gives either the
estimated or timed speed of flight of
some of our common game birds, taken
when they are in full plumage and power, after having flown such a distance
as to have acquired full momentum. It
may be noted that birds of the order of
quail and grouse are much more uniform
in rate of progress than wild-fowl. Nature did not give the grouse family such
wing powers as the migratory birds, the
one style of flying they have developed
giving a very regular
velocity.
It
might be taken as almost axiomatic that
the greater the strength of wing possessed by any bird, the more will his
speed vary with his humors and needs.
Some hawks can stand still in the air,
but they can also cut through it faster
than anything that flies; the king bird
ordinarily flies slowly, but he can dart
like a flash of light when he wishes.
"The variations in flight speed of
quail and grouse can be ascribed to wind
and atmosphere rather than to the will of
the bird. One of them might fly past
you, running a hazard of both barrels,
without accelerating his wing strokes a
particle, though doubtless he is as much
frightened as any other bird. As much
cannot be said of the duck tribe, who
sprint or loiter as the occasion demands,
always appearing able to let out another
link or two when danger is pressing.
"The velocities here given are taken
in feet per second rather than miles per
hour, which is less readily comprehended
or applied by the gunner."
TABLE OF FLIGHTS
Bird
Feet per Second
Average
75
65 to 85
65 to 85
75
60 to 90
75
70 to 100
85
50 to 70
65
45 to 65
55
50 to 80 according
to variety
Crow
35 to 55
45
Mallard
55 to 90
75
Black duck
55 to 90
75
Spoonbill
55 to 85
70
Pintail
60 to 100
80
70 to 90
80
Wood duck
80 to 100
90
Widgeon
Gadwell
80 to 100
90
110 to 130
120
Red head
Bluewing teal
120 to 140
130
Greenwing teal
100 to 130
115
Canvasback
130 to 160
145
100 to 120
110
Canada geese
Brant, different varieties,
average speed, 100
Quail
Prairie chicken
Ruffed grouse
Dove
Jack snipe
Curlew
Plovers
Some species of hawks have a speed of 200
feet a second.