More duck news

I should start a new category for ducks. *The Guardian*  has a [great article about ducks.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1231170,00.html)  It seems that ducks (at least in the UK) have regional accents. City ducks and Cornish ducks quack differently. No word on what the Cornish game hens sound like though. 

While cockney ducks make a rough “shouting” quack so that their mates can hear them above the din of urban life, their laid-back counterparts in the west country give off a Cornish burr of a quack, rather like a “giggle”.

So there you go.

With this research in my back pocket, I decided to interview some Aussie ducks this weekend. I went into the city and spoke with some ducks walking across the Yarra “river”. Their quacked replies were a bit quick and they did not “pull” their vowels. The letter “r” was also completely non-existent. Unlike most ducks I’ve spoken with, they didn’t ask for bread, but requested short white coffees. Obviously city ducks.

Then, I took a train out to the country and found some ducks that had modelled for Michael Leunig (“nice man, good bread” they said). As the English researchers suggested, these ducks had a slower, more relaxed quack, suggesting a life of idyllic lake-floating and posing for cartoonists. Not having met anyone from overseas, they hadn’t even heard of the letter “r” and it was, of course, missing from their speech. It was more difficult talking with these ducks, as they kept peppering me with questions about Canadian mallard ducks and if they say “eh” a lot.

Just another nugget of duck news from your friends at jurgen dot ca, your total source for fowl news. Tune in tomorrow for a scoop about geese that will really make your head spin.