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Somebody asked for more ducks, so here they are. But I have two questions.

First, what are these ducks fighting over? It can’t be a crumb of bread somebody threw to them. Maybe a fish? Do ducks eat fish? Or are they just ganging up on some poor duck who violated duck protocol? There’s definitely a duck at the beginning who’s getting pretty abused, but there seems to be more going on than just that.

Second, is this as good as resolution gets on YouTube? It seems like I’ve seen better. But this is HD video shot in MPEG 4, and I think I have all the settings correct. Is there anything more I can do?

UPDATE: We have answers!

  1. It’s spring, when a young duck’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. Among mallards, this is apparently a bit of mild foreplay. Be glad you’re not a female duck.
  2. I’m an idiot. The video was in high res, but I had it set to display on my computer at normal res. Once I chose the high-res setting, everything was fine.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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