English translation
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Time to stop feeding ducks bread
The time has come when we kindly ask people not to feed the ducks and swans at the Reykjavík pond bread. Bread feeding attracts black backed gulls that also like to feast on ducklings.
In springtime we see fewer ducks on the Reykjavík pond because they are in their nesting season and are laying on eggs. Some of them have already hatched their eggs and have returned to the pond with their cute ducklings. And this is the main reason why we now ask people to stop feeding the ducks bread because that behaviour attracts seagulls of various species which not only have an omnivorous taste for bread but also for ducklings.
Yesterday the first ducklings were seen with their mother duck at the Reykjavík pond. It was a proud mallard with five ducklings although this is quite early for them to have hatched but not unusual because of the nice weather this spring.
We are fortunate to have a healthy duck habitat in the City Center, at and around the Reykjavík pond with the protected wetlands and bird sanctuary at Vatnsmýri so we have many pairs of various species of ducks with the predominant duck species being mallards and tufted ducks. We can therefore expect a fair amount of ducklings to hatch this summer if the nesting season continues in good climate.
The ducklings life expectancy depends on two main factors: How fertile the feeding habitat is but also on how many black back gulls reside at the pond.
The lesser black backed gull is a highly adaptable and ferocious species which is fond of bread. However some of them also turn to preying on the small ducklings when they arrive at the pond newly hatched. This is the main reason why we kindly ask people not to feed the birds bread in spring and over the summertime until winter starts.
Doling out bread to the birds when there is plenty of natural food in the pond is totally unecessary and has another negative effect on the pond habitat, encouraging algae during the warm summer months which can stifle growth of water plants and kill insects and other aquatic animals which are important food for ducklings and chicks of other bird species that reside in the city wetland Vatnsmýrin.
We also recommend that people choose other feed than bread in the winter when feeding them is encouraged. The ducks like all kinds of corn, grain and seeds, cooked rice and leftover salad and we can help them through the harshest part of the winter by feeding them stuff that is good for them.