paddling

noun3

1. •
   The act of using a paddle.
2. •
   An act of corporal punishment consisting of spanking the buttocks with a paddle.
3. •
   A group of ducks (mallards, etc.) on the water.

   • Having detected, by sound, a fine paddling of ducks feeding in a small bay, the shore of which was skirted by a thick copse, to the shade of the latter I proceeded in my punt. — 1859