A day for Ducks! Proud Mama Duck came to the backyard today to show off her ten precious ducklings. How cute is this brood? Ducklings are an unruly bunch, scattering in all directions, oblivious to the dangers that lurk. For this reason it was hard to count them until I got this pic. It seems a little early for ducks to nest. In past years, they've shown up in mid-May and June, but of course, these cute creatures are welcome anytime. Mama will have a hard time keeping up with this bunch but most duck Mothers seem to take caring for their young in stride. Congrats!!
Winter Widgeons. Yesterday was a day for ducks. Lots of rain made the lake high. Mergansers and Mallards enjoyed the rain but the highlight was a visit from a small flock of American Widgeons. I rarely see them in winter because they usually spend the cold months in Florida and Central America. Maybe the Widgeons didn’t hear the Groundhog’s prediction and are heading back to Canada expecting an early Spring. I hope they don’t leave right away and dabble in our lake for a while.
I’ve been sad that it seems fewer migratory waterfowl are visiting the lake in the last few years. However things are looking up this winter. The flock of Ring-necked ducks visits regularly along with the Mergansers. Yesterday I was thrilled to see a pair of natty ducks that haven’t visited in a long time—Buffleheads. I wish I had gotten a better picture, but they were far away. These diving ducks breed in Canada and Alaska but winter in the Southern half of the U.S. Georgia is in their winter habitat but I hope our crazy cold weather doesn’t send these beauties packing for Florida!
Great excitement on the lake--we have ducklings!! I spotted the Mother Duck and her brood yesterday. The babies are probably newly hatched because they are so small. I counted 14!! Mother Duck is going to be tired keeping up with them.
More migratory ducks! Two male Ring-necked ducks and a female swooped in for a little R&R. Although they didn't get close enough for a good pic, you can see the male is striking. His gray bill has white bands, the head is purplish, back is a charcoal color and sides are gray. Although it’s almost impossible to see, the duck gets its name from a brownish ring around its neck. As usual in the bird kingdom, the female is drabber, but she still has the distinctive gray bill with the white bands.
The migratory ducks are arriving. This morning I spied the first Hooded Mergansers to visit the lake this year--two distinctively patterned males and a female. These diving ducks find prey underwater by sight. They have excellent underwater vision and a transparent third eyelid that protects the eye when swimming, like goggles.
I was surprised to see an odd duck swimming in the lake--charcoal grey body and a startling white beak--but it wasn't a duck at all. It was an American Coot. Even though Coots swim like ducks and have similar bills, they're really more closely related to Sandhill Cranes. Here's some video of this fascinating waterfowl.
American Coots spend their lives on or around the water. Smaller than a Mallard, they have bodies shaped like chickens. Despite their swimming prowess, their feet aren't webbed; instead, Coots have large, leaf-like feet that propel them through the water.
American Coots feed on aquatic plants, grains, and insects and crustaceans. They breed in freshwater wetlands among aquatic vegetations growing in standing water. In fact, their nests are floating structures anchored to plants.
These awesome waterfowl winter in the Southeast and breed west of the Mississippi River and Canada. I guess this one was heading home to start a family and took a break to wait out the bad weather. That was lucky for me because I've never seen an American Coot before and seeing a new bird makes it a good day!!
Being squarely in the migratory path of northern waterfowl, I never know what interesting ducks will stop at the lake on their way to sunnier places in the winter and back to northern breeding grounds in spring. Yesterday I spotted this unusual group swimming along with the Canada geese. After doing some research, I identified these dabbling ducks as Northern Shovelers. This is the first time I’ve seen them on the lake.
The female’s brown coloring resembles that of mallard females but the males are striking in appearance-- a green head, brown sides, white chest, and black and white back. However, the really distinctive characteristic is the long, spoon shaped bill.
Here are some interesting facts:
The Northern Shoveler’s bill has comb-like projections along the outer edge to filter food from the water. These ducks often forage by swimming with their bills lowered into the water, filtering out small crustaceans.
These ducks are monogamous. The female builds the nest and incubates the eggs alone. Average clutch size is 9 eggs.
Northern Shovelers breed in the northwestern quadrant of the U.S. and in northwestern Canada and winter in extreme southern U. S. and Mexico.
When I first saw these ducks, the green head of the male and the brown color of the females led me to believe they were Mallards. I’m glad I got out the binoculars, because I’d hate to miss seeing these natty dabblers.
It's gloomy, rainy, and cold here a few days before Thanksgiving, but I've got something new to be thankful for. The arrival of the first migratory ducks on the lake--a pair of Hooded Mergansers. These striking ducks breed around lakes, rivers and streams in the northern U.S. and southern Canada and winter in ponds and lakes that are free from ice in the southern U.S.
The Hooded Merganser is a diving duck and finds its prey underwater by sight. It has excellent underwater vision and a transparent third eyelid that protects the eye when swimming, like goggles. Hooded mergansers have a serrated beak that helps them catch fish, its principal food. It also eats snails, crayfish, insects, and frogs. It's very hard to film these ducks when they're foraging because you never know where the Merganser will pop up after a dive.
Last year the Mergansers stayed around all winter instead of going further South. I'm hoping this pair finds the lake attractive enough to linger here again.
I've never been happy with the steep slope of the backyard, but I'm over it. Being on high ground has its advantages. Thunderstorms rolled through early Sunday morning dumping lots of rain and flooding the marsh and part of the backyard. Our overflowing lake was even on local news last night. No wonder the lake was the highest ever--we got 6-8 inches of rain in 4 hours.
Water reached past the bird feeders. The duckings could swim under them to forage. Compare these pics to the photo on the right and you can see how high the water is.
But that's not all--a nearby lightning strike set off the smoke detectors. A couple of very nice firemen checked out the attic and gave the all clear.
Thankfully the worst is over. Water has receded leaving behind mud and debris but Mama Mallard and her brood don't seem to mind a bit.
Walter Reeves the Georgia Gardener Walter Reeves is the most respected garden guru in the Southeast and the author or co-author of nine books on gardening.
