Quack Quack Duck Duck

Ducks are funny! Fun to watch. Fun to listen to. Wiggling. Quacking. Running to the left. Running to the right. Arguing. Chatting. Like many animals they embrace a type of meditation in their daily routine; there’s a rhythm about the way they follow their duck leader, letting go of duck decisions and just following. Perhaps a yoga posture can be appointed called Downward Duck, similar to how the duck dips its head into the water, between it’s legs to catch a fish or a weed. It’s said (by duck herders) that the gender difference is easily distinguished by their quack; the females are louder. 

For years I wondered what the purpose might be of the dozens of ducks in the rice paddies, just after harvest, thinking it was to fertilize the field or help the rice farming in some way. Asking Ibu Coco, down at the local warung and who supplies our fresh duck eggs, why she turned out the ducks into the rice paddy, she offered that polite big smile, but her eyes revealed “How ignorant can these westerners really be?”. She said, “It’s free food for the ducks and good exercise. Can’t pass up free food!”  Here in Bali it’s so often so simple. Simple is so lovely. By the way, the duck eggs taste like they’re already coated with butter. Ducks are pretty much free range birds kept by many Balinese, so the eggs are collected daily from the favorite little egg laying locations that each duck has selected to be her egg nest.

Read more in our Library of Articles about ducks and the Balinese traditions surrounding them. https://www.balisilentretreat.com/duck-wisdom-sang-tu/