I found that my room mates pekin duck still stomped on everything...

Scirpus californicus stood up to that well because it is tough (physically I imagine Egyptian papyrus might hold up well too). S. olneyii did pretty good because it's a very fast grower and with the pot full it was hard for the duck to really damage it.

The yellow flags did poorly they didn't grow back fast enough from being bent over. The duck also uprooted and ate a lot of a waterlily that was at least 3 yrs old. All my parrots feather was lost.

Since I have a plant only pond out back (with most mentioned above growing) the straw that broke the camels back was it eating all of my pink fatheads.

I'm in the desert though so maybe the grass will keep then off the ornamentals? They seem to think so in this link.

Here is a link that might be useful: ducks in koi ponds

Scirpus- good idea, very course. There is a couple patches of equisetum, but a mindless goose would snap it off walking through (at least I know that will come back)
I would be so mad at the pekin owner, I hope you got to help eat the bird after?
I do hope the grazing areas will be more attractive than anything else. Funny- I built the pond initially for my birds and to raise fish to eat, but being the plant nerd I'm finding it difficult to find the farm/ornamental balance!!

No, we didn't eat her. She's a pet. My boyfriend's dad actually found her as a stray crossing a road just starting to get her adult feathers (wings still shrunken and tiny). My room mates had ducks before we moved in with them but the neighbor dogs killed them. He gave the duck to them because he knew they missed having them.

She was in an indoor pen because the coop had been left since the other ducks were killed and my boyfriend offhandedly reminded my room mate there was a pond when she was complaining about it not having enough exercise. He didn't know the damage it would cause. The coop was redone soon after me going over how much damage the duck cost my pond.

Another thought for you though...raised plant pond and put anything in it you want. Then put the divisions out in the duck pond and you're not really out any plants.

You didn't mention how big your pond is and how many birds you have.

Ducks and geese can do a lot of damage unless the plant materials are well established. Ducks will eat many things, geese pretty much stay with vegetation. Both will uproot plants as they add grit to digest their food. They dip their heads and will shovel up earth materials from the bottom. Any plant material not firmly rooted will be pulled up in the process. Geese are terrible about not going around obstacles. They go over and can trample even hardy grasses into nothing. The best advise is to balance the pond and vegetation with the number of water fowl. To many birds will turn it into a mud hole. You may also want to place some course sand in some of the shallows. Birds may be more apt to root around there instead of your plantings. Do you provide commercial feed for the birds? If so, locate an area away from the water to feed them at. That way they are less likely to congregate in large groups by the plant material. At one time I had a couple hundred assorted adult water fowl.

Very good idea with feed placement. They always like feed more than the healthy green stuff.
Pond is about 1/3 acre, and I have 2 pairs of Chinese geese (relatively small bred), and 6-8 muscovey ducks. I have no problem shrinking the bird population if need be, I don't want water pollution. I am regretting getting those last two geese.

A small garden center in my town sells juggs of these pellete. Geese-No or something like that. They are the size of a nickle and you spread them around the edge of the pond and geese wont root or dig. The company has a website, its in with the pond plants. PondMegastore.com , its $15 or $25 depending on the size jug. Hope that helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: pond megastore aquatic plants