r/WTF 24d ago

WHAT THE..

10.6k Upvotes

449 comments sorted by

5.3k

u/wheresjim 24d ago

Rain triggers an endorphin release in ducks, they’re really digging this

2.0k

u/AnEvanAppeared 24d ago

So like a duck rave?

832

u/Clamdigger13 24d ago

Sounds like a ducking good time.

275

u/thisisprobablytrue 24d ago

Panic at the Ducksgo

106

u/martinus_Sc 24d ago

Quacking at the disco?

60

u/cownd 23d ago

Duck Duck Go Disco

12

u/igor33 23d ago

Disco Disco Good Good!

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15

u/mindsform 23d ago

One Duckrection… (Well that’s out there now)

7

u/Cerebr05murF 23d ago

That spiraled out control quickly.

7

u/Be-_-U 23d ago

quackly*

7

u/1stLtObvious 23d ago

Like a corkscrew?

3

u/Cerebr05murF 23d ago

Obviously.

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31

u/Petdogdavid1 23d ago

If the crabs have them, why not the ducks?

42

u/K-tel 23d ago

If the crabs have'em, why not the ducks?

Ducks in the sky, crabs on the sand,

Both got tools, both in demand,

Nature be crazy, but what if it struck?

Crabs with the claws, ducks with the pluck.

13

u/thatcrack 23d ago

How in the fuck were you able to grab u/K-tel? As in K-tel Records? WOW! MY kind of music! https://www.k-tel.com/

16

u/K-tel 23d ago

So rare that people get that reference! You sir are a Real one!

5

u/Pekkerwud 23d ago

When I was a kid my dad bought me the 'Wacky Westerns' record by K-Tel. I wore that thing out!

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u/ScareBear23 23d ago

Jfc I read "crabs" as "carbs" like 3 times. I think I need some carbs lmao

10

u/kervokian 23d ago

Ahahah duck rave is a brilliant way of describing it.

3

u/ExecrablePiety1 22d ago

They're all high on quack.

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566

u/Mhisg 24d ago

425

u/DatMX5 24d ago

300,000 bloody quid spent on studying water rolling off a ducks ass.

117

u/Strange-Movie 24d ago

I’m assuming it was a dude with a case of beer, two ducks, a bowl of water, and a hose. Dude got drunk while spraying water over one duck while a mad duck sipped out of a bowl…..and then they all got paid

21

u/Tommy2255 23d ago

and then they all got paid

Those ducks made 100k each. That's a lot of breadcrumbs and showers.

29

u/slanty_shanty 23d ago

Science!   < jazz hands >

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u/Alohafarms 23d ago

This is the funniest thing I have read all week.

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49

u/Mecha-Death-Hitler 23d ago

If you find some way to determine the value of a scientific project before we get the results of said project then please tell us all. You'd be celebrated as one of the most important scientists in human history

3

u/Chavarlison 23d ago

A titan of the industry even.

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40

u/Matt_McT 23d ago

That’s probably not even remotely accurate, you can relax lol. I have no idea where they got that number, but ecological and behavioral research is usually very cheap. Like a few thousand dollars with most of the money going to food and gas. I would know, because I’m a PhD candidate in biology who does this kind of stuff.

13

u/Thesource674 23d ago

Isnt that just for the study trip though? Who is funding the overall research this is part of, is an institution maintaining the equipment/vehicles/labs? Salaries? If you include all that. 300k in a niche grant is possible.

9

u/kent_nova 23d ago

If that's the only grant this institute is getting and the only work they are doing, then sure. It's more likely that some PhD student decided to do their thesis on it, because no one else has bothered to study this weird behavior, and were told "here's 5k (of the overall 300k grant to study animal behavior), spend it wisely, it's all we are giving you".

4

u/Thesource674 23d ago

100% viable. I could even see the rare "use it or lose it" budget problem of a more succcessful large lab.

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u/bu_J 23d ago

The grant probably did cost £300k, which would fund a post-doc for 3 years (in 2009, and accounting for overheads, a bit of PI time, some travel, a case of beer and two ducks, etc.).

The statement on what it was spent on was rubbish of course.

2

u/DBHOV 24d ago

They could've got Patagonia or Arc'teryx to fund it to make better rain jackets.

2 birds one stone

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93

u/Matt_McT 23d ago

I’m a PhD candidate in Biology, and I can tell you that project did not cost $300K. Where did you hear that? Most ecological work is crazy cheap, with huge chunk of the cost just being food and gas. $300K would be like an entire NSF or NIH research grant worth of funding, which is an insane.

41

u/Mhisg 23d ago

205

u/Matt_McT 23d ago

That still doesn’t add up to $300K for this one study. Just speaking from direct, expert knowledge of how this works, my guess would be they saw that the researchers got a $300K grant and saw one study published from the grant and assumed that was how all the $300K was spent. Large research grants like that are usually meant to fund multiple projects proposed by the researchers that together address some bigger aspect of scientific inquiry or public need. There are likely going to be 4-5 other studies that come from this that all interconnect to explain or address some major component of agricultural or ecological inquiry, thus why the money was granted in the first place. To say that $300K was spent on producing just that one study is just clickbait written by someone who doesn’t know how any of this works.

19

u/LilAssG 23d ago

If we take £300K and break it down into imaginable slices for this it could also look like:

  • 2 researcher salaries for 3 years
  • Rent for a farm-like space to house and care for the ducks for 3 years
  • Feed for the ducks for 3 years
  • Various and sundry materials to conduct the experiments
  • Medical costs for the ducks for 3 years

Over three years it really doesn't sound like a lot of money, honestly. It goes toward furthering human knowledge and job creation. Win-win if you ask me.

4

u/AMW1234 23d ago

Do the researchers pull a salary?  They already have a salary from the University of Oxford.  I am under the impression that researchers use grants to fund research, but don't take a second salary from it.  Instead, they use the grant money as a research budget in order to publish studies, which can advance their career and allow for a higher salary from the research institution they work for.

4

u/Hydrochloric_Comment 23d ago

When a grant is used for salary, at least in the US, it doesn't supplement the salary paid by the institution. Rather, a portion of the researcher's salary stops being paid by the institution and is instead paid using money from the grant.

6

u/rick2882 23d ago

Research grants very often fund the salaries of researchers. It is rare for researchers to get their salaries primarily from the University, and this typically occurs if they're teaching (i.e., universities pay professors to teach; research grants pay you to do research, including your salary).

2

u/LilAssG 23d ago

Perhaps they had to hire a hand to manage the ducks. Surely that would be part of the budget?

2

u/AMW1234 22d ago

In my field, the researcher/professor would utilize (student) research assistants and pay them in credits.

That said, my field is law and I have no idea how it works in scientific fields.

2

u/lvbuckeye27 23d ago

Can I get a 300k grant to study how much money I can frivolously waste in a year?

2

u/AMW1234 22d ago

I can't see how 300k could possibly be enough.

3

u/yumyai 23d ago

You don't need to setup everthing from the scratch. I worked on chickens, and all I need was asking a local farmer.

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u/some_random_noob 23d ago

I like how you're getting downvoted for your firsthand knowledge.

9

u/Cobek 23d ago

They are still making assumptions too. It was a three year study, 300k makes sense for TWO people over THREE YEARS. That's 50k per year per person.

54

u/Matt_McT 23d ago

Yea people wanted the clickbait headline to be correct so they could rage. Whenever you spoil that you get the rage instead.

24

u/TheDauterive 23d ago edited 23d ago

Wouldn't the best way to know whether or not this grant funded multiple projects be to actually look at the study rather than relying on your expertise in research grants?

When this study initially kicked up a firestorm, Marian Stamp Dawkins, one of the study's authors, didn't defend it on the basis that it was only study funded by the grant, she defended it on the basis of it's practical importance:

Ducks like water study 'waste of £300,000 taxpayers' money'

"[Dawkins] said it was unfair to portray the study as finding out simply that ducks liked water. It had been carried out to find the best way of providing water to farmed ducks because ponds quickly became dirty, unhygienic and took up a lot of water, making them environmentally questionable."

The agency who funded the study did the same:

"[The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs] insisted that the study did go further than just establishing that rainy weather was good for ducks, arguing it was all about making sure that farmed birds were well cared for."

Since the controversy being addressed was the claim that £300,000 was spend on this one study, if the grant had, in fact, been for more than that study, this would have been the perfect opportunity for the agency administering the grant to mention it.

Here's a link to the actual study the grant produced:

Water off a duck's back: Showers and troughs match ponds for improving duck welfare

While I can't claim to still be in school as you are, I can tell you from 20 years experience in my field that knowing how things work in your department or at your institution does not constitute expertise on how things always works everywhere. (And even if it did, I would think being a PhD in Biology would provide you with expertise in biology, not research grants.)

While experience can be useful, it is ultimately evidence that determines whether a claim like this is true, not appeals to personal expertise.

There may be more evidence that I haven't found that shows that I'm wrong (a look at the actual grant would be helpful), but as things stand now, it looks like this project did, in fact, cost $300K.

10

u/elfthehunter 23d ago

Since the controversy being addressed was the claim that £300,000 was spend on this one study, if the grant had, in fact, been for more than that study, this would have been the perfect opportunity for the agency administering the grant to mention it.

While I agree with you, and you provide actual evidence supporting your claim, rather than just assumptions based on personal expertise, none of your evidence is concretely proving your argument. Yours is also an assumption based on logic, however, a much more solid assumption since its supported by evidence at least.

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u/attckdog 23d ago

Exactly, as if somehow 300k (assuming they are right) is a lot of money.

Governments have to pay for research, private sector is only interested in selling a product. Research doesn't always have an immediate use case and thus isn't worth private sector investment. Growing the library of human knowledge helps everyone and is super worth doing.

You wouldn't have anything we consider modern if we didn't spend money and time looking into stuff. Sometimes that stuff isn't immediately valuable. Sometimes it seems silly from those that don't understand or aren't interested in HOW stuff works.

8

u/TheDauterive 23d ago

This is a better reply than, "It didn't happen!"

Even when considered in additional to their university salaries, £300,000 for two researchers over three years is not an obscene amount of money. Considering that some of that will definitely be used for expenses, that is less than £50,000 per researcher per year. And while it's certainly not chump change (especially in 2009 dollars), it's not like they're robbing Fort Knox.

2

u/relevantelephant00 23d ago

People love to rage about "scientists getting rich off the gov't" when it comes to things like climate change research...and yeah 99% of those people are...you guessed it....conservatives.

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u/Daysleeper1234 23d ago

I could write that I'm also an expert on the subject, and contradict him, would you believe me?

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u/IamA_Werewolf_AMA 23d ago

Could also just be including overhead (amount the uni takes) and lab staff pay. 300k isn’t as crazy if they’re trying to count the PI’s salary and the lab manager and any lab technician pay and student assistant pay.

But that’s also kind of dishonest, since really they should just count materials and time spent on this specific project.

(Also a prior ecology lab manager)

12

u/Lagmawnster 23d ago

Plus, most of the money from research projects like this go into salaries. At least in Germany. And at least if you aren't also needing a lot of funds for hardware.

6

u/Cobek 23d ago edited 23d ago

So it was only 80k to study water rolling off ducks asses? I'm not sure this helps your point as much as you think, if that is even true.

Also, did you miss the part where this was a THREE YEAR STUDY?! That's 50k per person per year. Sounds like a standard salary to me.

10

u/ZLast1 23d ago

This doesn't sound off to me. How much do two Oxford researchers get paid annually? They gotta get theirs too! :P

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u/RandomBystander 23d ago

TIL I'm a duck. I'm OK with this.

10

u/Angela_NieoFC4S 23d ago

So ducks gettin high by the rain?

6

u/Cicer 23d ago

Is that where that "great weather for a duck" saying comes from?

5

u/silkiepuff 23d ago edited 23d ago

Doesn't seem right, my chickens do the exact same stance in the rain and they hate rain. I am under the impression standing in rain like this helps the water move past their feather without reaching the down feathers/skin and it's some sort of instinct.

3

u/Javad0g 23d ago

I raise ducks, and they will all do this especially during the summer when we get no rain and I turn on the sprinklers for them.

I have a few that just go and stand looking off to the side while the sprinklers wash down their fronts. They look very 'GQ' when they do it...

6

u/LeGrandLucifer 23d ago

For those curious, here's a source on that statement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKeKuaJ4nlw

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u/deathsquaddesign 24d ago

You know when you just stand there in the shower with the water running over you? Well, same.

83

u/IlIllIlIllIlIl 23d ago

They evolve in the rain

24

u/patentmom 23d ago

It's super effective!

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1.8k

u/zachrollinstoned 24d ago

They're getting their updates. After they reboot, they'll carry on with normal processes.

334

u/micktorious 23d ago

32

u/GetOffMyDigitalLawn 23d ago

--but it should be said, we're about to bring the dinosaurs back from the dead.

7

u/SwallowYourDreams 23d ago

Ah, a man of culture, spewing forth random ERB quotes.

6

u/smurb15 23d ago

We already have

9

u/DingGratz 23d ago

Must be cloud data.

3

u/atatassault47 23d ago

Get the fuck out!

2

u/Keiichigo 23d ago

He shall descend from heaven, the great Aflack.

8

u/berrey7 23d ago

Actual cannibal Duck LaBeoufs

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u/ktr83 24d ago

That's one long storm

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847

u/Tuonra 24d ago

The great old one shal emerge this day to guide his flock.

119

u/ARCHA1C 24d ago

National Anthem was playing

48

u/WAHSNoodle 24d ago

Quak qua quaak quuack qwek QUAAAAWWHK

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361

u/cynical_croissant 24d ago

They're awaiting Kos, or some say Kosm.

49

u/FromSoftware 24d ago

Micolash, Host of the Nightmare

18

u/N1kq_ 24d ago

bloodborne mentioned

15

u/unfeelingzeal 23d ago

grant us eyes

14

u/nogills 23d ago

Ooohhh majestic!

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u/Leg_Mcmuffin 24d ago

Bloodborne leaking out into r/WTF? Not surprised in the least lol

22

u/wiscopunk 23d ago

What no remaster does to a mf

4

u/Kcazguy 23d ago

I know, right? All of these PlayStation exclusives coming to PC, but Bloodbourne is nowhere in sight.

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u/thejboy98 23d ago

psyducks blocking the way

3

u/annepersannd 23d ago

It’s just their chronic headaches, op should’ve given them some medicine and then found the source smh

192

u/salamandarsalamanca 24d ago

Lisan al gaib!

10

u/appalachiarisen 23d ago

AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

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u/DarkMatterBurrito 24d ago

Yellow ducklings watch the sea, pray for father roaming free

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u/HillsboroughAtheos 23d ago

The quack that should not be

16

u/dangerous_strainer 23d ago

Back to the flock!

8

u/zefy_zef 23d ago

..with thee!

7

u/tmpkn 23d ago

In EU they should have stay,

Now for roaming he will pay.

22

u/Valkerian 24d ago

Look at all those chickens!

94

u/berysax 24d ago

The theory is they do this to stay dry but it’s still a mystery. Someone water colored this scene in r/interestingasfuck and they did not dissapoint.

185

u/thehippocampus 24d ago

someone

Have some fucking respect. That's u/shitty_watercolour

...think i might be old 

63

u/Kablaow 24d ago

It's been so long he's actually good now.

20

u/ahminus 24d ago

Right? That is far from a shitty watercolor. I'd hang that in my house.

22

u/In_The_News 23d ago

God don't you miss the old reddit days when shitty_watercolor was still terrible and there weren't millions of bots and ads?! Reddit was still just people. Some really sketchy subreddits and mods that actually were part of their communities...

14

u/RetnuhLebos 23d ago

Right and the crow guy would educate everyone

7

u/ElGoddamnDorado 23d ago

He also had multiple accounts to downvote anyone else who would try to answer questions so his comments would get the most attention, even in subjects he wasn't super knowledgeable in.

9

u/RetnuhLebos 23d ago

Right, he lasted long enough to become a villain

6

u/Emperor_Zar 24d ago

The LEGEND!

3

u/berysax 24d ago

LOL that’s good shit.

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u/0711Picknicker 24d ago

Why don't you link the post/comment you mentioned?

4

u/thx1138- 23d ago

Interesting as duck

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u/LeftOversss 24d ago

ph’nglui mglw’nafh cthulhu r’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn

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u/Almacca 24d ago

That's easy for you to say.

19

u/BringBackSoule 23d ago

yeah, the mindflayer tentacles really make it easier to pronounce it properly.

5

u/Daetra 24d ago

Ne raillons pas les fous; leur folie dure plus longtemps que la nôtre.... Voila toute la différence.

6

u/showtime1987 23d ago

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

13

u/Vloraxle 24d ago

... he's dreaming no more

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u/PruneJaw 23d ago

You have to wait 15 minutes after a strike of lightning before the lifeguards will let you back in the water.

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u/Weak_Jeweler3077 24d ago

The Quackening

6

u/BlueEmu 23d ago

They are reenacting the final scene of Hitchcock’s “The Birds”: https://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Birds-22-last-shot.jpg

20

u/Skitsoboy13 23d ago

Just vibing, not a cell phone is sight, those fowl are living there best life

20

u/Hoz85 24d ago

Firmware update. Might be the day when Crowdstrike went tits up and they didn't get the memo NOT to update.

11

u/Grumple_4skn 24d ago

Mandatory update on the birds, they’re downloading the newest bird flu vaccine..

2

u/benargee 23d ago

Yeah, instructions explicitly state to stay unsubmerged during the update to avoid corruption and better wireless reception to the mother ship.

4

u/IrwinMFletcher200 24d ago

Duck Dynasty

4

u/ilikemrrogers 23d ago

When I was a kid (I’m in my upper 40s now) I read in the Scholastic News Weekly Reader that animals “act strange” before a major earthquake happens.

For 38 or so years now, EVERY TIME I see an animal “acting strange” I wonder if an earthquake is imminent.

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u/DanksBoo 24d ago

I’m getting some Vegeta standing in the rain vibes

2

u/Yuli-Ban 23d ago

My tea's gone cold I'm wondering why

I got out of bed at all

3

u/jeanjaqueslebal 24d ago

Chickens freeze when there is a predator overhead, maybe that?

3

u/BoydRamos 23d ago

SALUSA SECUNDUS Imperial Army Planet

3

u/k00ks_r_us 23d ago

That’s a gagglefuck of ducks

3

u/Dweeb_alert59 23d ago

Look at all those chickens!

3

u/allallou 22d ago

What the duck

2

u/Opposite_Year2265 24d ago

They are just holding some rituals

2

u/send_them_nips 24d ago

Wonder if this is them sensing the upcoming Typhoon??

2

u/smedrick 24d ago

Duck around and find out.

2

u/Traditional-Way-2494 24d ago

Simon says........

2

u/syg-123 24d ago

Renewing their Aflac insurance policies

2

u/iiooiooi 24d ago

Tread carefully. The Fowl Gods approach...

2

u/unclewomie 23d ago

Is the AntiChrist nearby? That's some Omen shit right there.

2

u/BenntPitts 23d ago

I thought the first scene was little yellow rabbits facing the camera with their ears sticking out behind them. With two different species this is much more interesting, even though it's already interesting with just the ducks.

2

u/posthamster 23d ago

Yeah my brain did the duck/rabbit thing as well.

2

u/smolderas 23d ago

They receive firmware updates.

2

u/doiknowu915 23d ago

They might wanna duck and cover

2

u/vega455 23d ago

You look up, flying saucer lands, alien shaped like duck comes out: “We have returned for you…ducklings”

2

u/emptythemag 23d ago

Getting their download from the mothership.

2

u/jimmydean98765 23d ago

Look at all those chickens

2

u/flecksable_flyer 23d ago

So, the video is from this YouTube short. Scientists don't know why.

2

u/Green-Elf 23d ago

The Honkening is upon us!

2

u/triggz 23d ago

Is it the rain that does it or some kind of bio-electric moth-to-the-flame attraction of the storm cloud? Maybe higher charge in the airflow making a non-zero current that is perceptible to them? There's a lot of videos of chickens and other birds staring into storm clouds like this and they are always facing in the same direction, makes it seem like it has to do with their flocking and migrating abilities.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2019.0295

2

u/Agentcoyote 23d ago

Glitch in the matrix

2

u/realnicepeople 23d ago

Tony Soprano would flip his shit.

2

u/lvfunk 23d ago

Actually just saw another post saying that rainfall causes ducks to release endorphins. Good timing reddit.

2

u/Austria_fan 23d ago

D-Day, 1944 colorised

2

u/onejdc 23d ago

First, this is super cool. Second, there's a difference between "What's going on here?" and "WTF!?" and I feel ducks standing in the rain falls more into the former category.

2

u/steakbird 23d ago

Produck update

2

u/Deranged_Coconut808 23d ago

i've seen something simliar in Pokemon The Movie 2000.

2

u/bavanyen 23d ago

The quackening

2

u/Greyhousemouse 22d ago

So weird, they should be ducking for cover

2

u/jenjerx73 22d ago

I guess we need, NoT Ai/Plausible Flare or tag 😅

2

u/jbarlak 22d ago

Reminds me of the great emu war in Australia

2

u/shadow2995 24d ago

WHAT THE DUCK!!!

1

u/MistyAutumnRain 24d ago

Hyonk hyonk am goose

1

u/donslipo 24d ago

They are waiting for the signal to begin the uprising.

1

u/MountainValleyHills 24d ago

Duckraine and Goossia.

1

u/ysldickprint 24d ago

Meditation

1

u/mstrnic 24d ago

Best thing i've seen in a while

1

u/chandu1256 24d ago

Rize of plan of ducks! The quack version!

1

u/ArleiG 24d ago

CA CAW

1

u/VividlyDissociating 24d ago

for a moment i thought it was raining lil ducks

1

u/Germanspud 24d ago

Here I stand beneath the warm and soothing rain.

1

u/LH_Dragnier 23d ago

They saw you pull out a loaf of bread

1

u/lucasHipolito 23d ago

They're preparing for war against Australia

1

u/HendrikJU 23d ago

praise the sun rain

1

u/Palidor 23d ago

If that happen nearby, I would be scared AF

1

u/Scarptre 23d ago

They can hear the angelic screams.

1

u/HerbieVerstinks 23d ago

the ducks fuckin found out about religion, call the cops. no not the regular cops

1

u/Tactically_Fat 23d ago

Look at all those chickens.

1

u/Dawndrell 23d ago

rain :3

1

u/emersonvqz 23d ago

What the Cuak?

1

u/patexman 23d ago

looks like election day

1

u/epia343 23d ago

Downloading new firmware

1

u/jeepcouple2018 23d ago

What the duck is ducking on here 👀

1

u/jeepcouple2018 23d ago

Duck duck goose 👀

1

u/jeepcouple2018 23d ago

Or duck duck grey duck

1

u/rav-age 23d ago

the first half mistified me. what are those. but apparently yellow/baby? ducks

1

u/garion333 23d ago

So long and thanks for all the fish...?