The ducks are going around in pairs, in isolated duets. Cars are playing dodge games because they're getting territorial (the ducks, not the cars) and hence can't feed within five metres of each other without sparking gang warfare. This time of year always reminds me of something A told me about in my first year. About how he'd been riding home and he'd passed a dead duck lying in the gutter, obviously having had a fatal encounter with a car. On the kerb above sat another duck, honking plaintively, morosely.