Five ducks by an irrigation canal are called home for the night

Five ducks by an irrigation canal look up as they are called home for the night. As sunset approaches (always by 6 p.m. in places near the equator), Balinese herd their livestock out of their grazing fields towards a barn near home. Here, a blurred figure in the background, apparently a boy wearing shorts, is gesturing with his outstretched right hand and calling the ducks to follow him home. In the early wet stages of rice agriculture in Bali, ducks are allowed to forage in the canals to remove insect and plant pests as they fertilize the young rice plants with their droppings. By the time the rice is ripe, the ducks are herded elsewhere, and eventually eaten.