Your daily bird in GTA VI: who am I? (GTA VI Fauna Analysis PART 3))

Hey, Bird Guy here! Get ready for another round of... drumroll, please... WHO AM I? This mysterious bird pops up in Trailer 1 at 0:06 and 0:20. Just like in Part 2, we’re dealing with a low-pixel silhouette that's impossible to identify by sight alone. But don't worry, Detective Bird Guy (or is it Bird Guy Detective? Who knows) is on the case! Surprisingly, we have a lot to work with. From the footage, we can determine the bird's rough shape, habitat, size, wingspan, and social behavior. Our mystery avian has a decent size, a short beak and legs, and a medium, straight neck when flying. It also travels in marshland flocks. This initial screening rules out most of our long-necked contestants like cranes, ibises, and anhingas. Canada Geese might seem like a solid guess, but they typically fly in a much more elegant, V formation than the scattered flock seen in the image. So, that leads us to our answer: ducks! Marshes? Check. Medium-sized and flying in flocks? Check. Case closed, right? But you know me—I'm not just going to accept "duck" as the final answer. Since it's only a silhouette, how are we supposed to tell exactly which duck it is? Are we looking at a Mallard, a Wood Duck, or a Mottled Duck? The secret lies in the bird's wing flap frequency. Every duck species has a different preferred flapping rate. In the trailer, these ducks flap roughly once every 0.42 seconds (about 2.27 beats per second). Due to their size and behavior, most ducks average a faster flap rate of around once every 0.30 seconds (3.33 beats per second). Mottled Ducks, however, flap at a rate of 0.35 to 0.45 seconds, which aligns with the GTA VI footage. However, this is far from a rock-solid conclusion, as bird varies in their flapping frequencies. It wasn't until I made this discovery that I truly realized just how realistic Rockstar is trying to make this game. (first posted in gta-social) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anyway, it's bird time! Meet the Florida Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula), a bird that loves the Sunshine State so much it flat-out refuses to leave. Unlike most waterfowl that fly thousands of miles to escape the winter frost, these ducks are strictly non-migratory, spending their entire lives lounging in Florida's freshwater marshes. The most interesting thing about these birds is that their greatgrandmas have a quite flavorful past. Because people historically released domestic Mallards into local ponds, these feral ducks are now interbreeding with the native population, creating hybrid "Muddled Ducks." This actually threatens the genetic purity of the Florida species, making them a major conservation priority. Real-world wildlife officials work hard to protect these true locals from being genetically diluted by winter tourists who simply decided to overstay their welcome and crash the gene pool. Data source: allaboutbirds guide Mottled_Duck (Search this on google, can't post links.)