ELI5: Why do ducks just stand still in the rain like they’re waiting for something?

r/

I was visiting my uncle’s farm the other day during a heavy downpour, and something strange caught my eye. While the cows and chickens rushed for cover, the ducks stood perfectly still in the open — just letting the rain pour over them like they didn’t have a care in the world.

It was almost like they were waiting for something. I asked my uncle, and he laughed, saying, “They’re probably just waiting for the puddles to form so they can be the first to jump in.”

Is that really it? Or is there more going on here with duck behavior that I’m missing?

Comments

  1. ImHufflePuff_Crap_ok Avatar

    Cows and chickens don’t generally like water (like that).

    Ducks love water, they love getting wet and they do not care about the rain. Much like higher ups in the Marine Corps.

    Be like a duck, just let it roll off of you.

  2. YakumoYoukai Avatar

    As the saying goes, “Like water off a duck’s back.”

  3. Probable_Bot1236 Avatar

    I once had it explained to me like this:

    Ducks, being waterfowl, are basically waterproof.

    Other animals are running for shelter (because they won’t hold up so well exposed to rain- hypothermia is a big concern), but that same shelter is possibly cover for a predator trying to ambush them. And a rainstorm is great ambushing time. It’s actually kinda dangerous to limit the lines of sight away from yourself as a prey animal.

    But the ducks, since they don’t need shelter from rain, just stay out in the open where it’s hard for anything to sneak up on them. They’re simply safer that way. It’s an instinctive thing.

  4. OldManChino Avatar

    Ever heard the expression ‘water off a ducks back’? It means to be bot bothered by something.

  5. No_Application_8698 Avatar

    There’s an old saying: ‘nice weather for ducks’. This is a comment on how rain affects humans (and other animals) in a negative way, but it doesn’t bother ducks. You’d say it in response to a downpour to highlight the different perspectives on a situation.

  6. TerminalSire Avatar

    I think you might find this song illuminating:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JvKM_V70JPc

  7. bbz00 Avatar

    They conserve energy and stay warm. The less they move the more water tight they are

  8. SumonaFlorence Avatar

    > just letting the rain pour over them like 

    … WATER OFF A DUCKS BACK?

  9. radarDreams Avatar

    Ducks like rain. Ducks like rain. Ducks like splishy splashing in the rain 🎶

  10. ahhh_ennui Avatar

    My ducks and geese will face into the wind and let the rain pelt them. They’re super offended by hail.

    It’s almost like they’re fowl that like water or something.

  11. Sonderkraftfahrzeug7 Avatar

    They are watching for predators. And they are watching you. Personally.

  12. BastardTrumpet Avatar

    Ducks are the perfect survival machine: land, air and water.

  13. fhernands Avatar

    Hoping Tom Aspinwall won’t see them if they stay still 

  14. sule9na Avatar

    They are waiting for something. They’re waiting for it to stop raining.

  15. ajtrns Avatar

    recently in a top post on the front page, an explanation was given that many duck and geese species stay warmer and drier by not moving.

  16. QtPlatypus Avatar

    As everyone else has pointed out ducks are waterproof so they don’t have to worry about the rain. However rain is a great opportunity for ducks as well. Earthworms tend to be driven out of the soil by rain so they are waiting for the tasty tasty earthworms to eat.

  17. hillswalker87 Avatar

    I know ducks have ways to waterproof their feathers and can fluff themselves up to stay warm, but how do they keep their feet warm? the water in winter is freezing and their feet still need blood flow, so how do they do it?

  18. No_Pickle9341 Avatar

    If they don’t move, the water won’t penetrate the top layer of the feathers which are waterproof (maybe the rest are as well, not sure) and by standing whey conserve energy and heat

  19. siler7 Avatar

    Water runs off a duck’s back like water running off a duck’s back.

  20. swimminginhumidity Avatar

    It’s water off a ducks back. No harm, no fowl.

  21. zoobernut Avatar

    Ducks love water. When it rains our ducks rush out of their house in the morning to sit in the puddles in the rain. Everyone else stays out of the rain.

    When we lived where it snowed the ducks loved the snow too they would slide around on the bellies like penguins in the snow.

  22. Top_Strategy_2852 Avatar

    I have ducks, and they absolutely love the rain.

    Rain brings out worms and snails and softens the earth so they can burrow for them. This is absolutely their favourite food, and will actually chew on snail shells like a dog does a bone. They will go for just about anything they can find hidden in a pile leaves or decayed wood, including grubs and frogs. They will run around foraging, and when the find something they start squeaking in ecstasy.

    Because they are constantly drinking water to keep their beak moist, they love to make mud, to consume minerals to replenish themselves.

    If you see a duck standing around in the rain doing nothing, it’s likely they are full, or have no habitat that sustains snails/worms.

  23. Pizza_Low Avatar

    If you spend a fair bit of time watching ducks, they spend a lot of their “free time” preening themselves and rubbing the oils from a preen gland, or uropygial gland with their beak into their feathers. It’s like a little nub right on top of their butt. In waterfowl it’s a bit more waxy than other birds. If you were to bathe a duck before a rainstorm or before it went into the pond, it would most likely get it’s skin wet and suffer the effects of hypothermia.

    I’m not sure if they put it on their down feathers or only their outer feathers. The end result is that they don’t get wet, and thus water doesn’t really impact them the way it does for other animals.