Appalachian Exposure: In search of ducks

Among my favorite groups of birds, ducks are definitely in the top portion of the list. I really am not sure why, maybe it is their beauty, maybe because of the physiological diversity among the breeds, or it is usually fun to watch them and to listen in on their conversations, or possibly because among all birds that I have handled they are the most polite. Whatever the case may be, I really enjoy my waterfowl. Speaking of ducks, have you purchased your duck stamp this year...? By purchasing a duck stamp, or two, at your local post office you can help aid waterfowl conservation efforts that are beneficial to all species of wildlife, not just ducks. And while you are in the conservation spirit, head over to Ducks Unlimited and sign up for a membership, or make a gift! Your donations are tax deductible, and 81% of every dollar goes to waterfowl education and conservation.

http://www.ducks.org/

OK, enough preaching. So I caught wind of some northern shovelers and a pair of gadwall that were hanging out at the Centre Furnace duck ponds last Monday night. I had an extremely slow spring as far as waterfowl goes due to the weather, and thought that it would be good to get looks at these birds. So Tuesday before work, I decided to check it out. As soon as I got out of my car, a flock of about 20 canada geese were flying overhead, and set their wings as if they were going to land on the pond. They must have seen me walking towards the water, because after contemplating the landing, they decided to flare away from the pond and keep going. A small group of five birds broke off of the main flock, circled, and came back in for a second look, setting their wings and dropping their feet as if to land.

Canada Geese coming in for a landing

These birds also flared, and decided to move on to the next roosting opportunity.

The honking of the overhead geese must have got things a bit stirred up on the water. Before I could even see the water surface, there were ducks taking off every which way, exploding into flight in groups of a half dozen, give or take. These groups didn't fly more than one circle around the pond before landing again. I got low to the ground, and crept up to the brush along side of the pond to find a good number of ducks. I quickly started scanning through them, and the first bird I noticed other than the mallards was the coot.

American Coot among mallards

There was a lot going on, ducks squawking, muttering, and a few chasing each other for a couple of laps around the pond.

Mallards

Drake mallard

I directed my attention to a pair of canada geese. My grandfather loved geese and ducks also. His reasoning was that an animal that picks up and flies thousands of miles and hangs out for a couple of months, then turns around and flies back out of pure instinct, is fascinating. I would have to say that I completely agree with him.

Pair of canada geese

While I was watching the geese, something was coming through the group of mallards in quite a hurry. Out of the crowd, pushing other ducks aside, was this little female ring-necked duck. Evidently, queen of the pond.

Female ring-necked duck

She wasn't swimming away from anything, so I started to scan the water in front of her to see what she was going for.

Male ring-necked duck

After catching up with her male, she calmed down as they relaxed, paddling around within the crowd.

I continued scanning through the group of birds, and picked out a northern shoveler. After finding one, the rest of the shovelers just came to me, 4 in total.

Female northern shoveler

I thought that it was nice to see a good group of american black ducks as well. Back home, they are usually just in pairs when I see them. I counted 16 individual american black ducks, plus one black duck mallard hybrid.