My data collection has been consistent, and I have not had to much difficulty implementing my design. I have noticed that I must watch the time, as it can be easy to go past the 5 minutes in some gradients as there can be a so much going on. This is an operator issue and less with design flaw. I have sampled 9 times over 5 gradients so far. During my observations I have noticed some similar behaviour with the ducks; in the morning they prefer certain spots over the evening. To overcome this, I will add in two random day time samplings of each gradient in the three parks over the next few days. I believe this may help to mitigate any bias in timing and natural behaviour. I have noticed some things that could be missing from truly confirming or falsifying my hypothesis. I am finding at this point that there are more ducks in the larger ponds, however, I wonder if their numbers are more on capacity than preference. My smallest park had a much larger consistent population than I expected at first. Also, young ducks seem to have familial groups that they remain with for some time. I am seeing that these ducklings that I have been observing for some time, formally and informally, are becoming more independent and forging more on their own. The stage of growth could also be a factor of where ducks reside more often in parks. You may find more hens with chicks and ducklings in the smaller creeks with more vegetation on the sides and more mature ducks in larger ponds and in open areas. I am not sampling these behaviours at developmental stages but believe that this plays a part in where ducks prefer to spend their time.
As long as you sample consistently at the same time each day then you should be fine even if ducks have different patterns at different times.
Are you sampling a constant area across the different sized ponds to account for the differing sizes?