Mallards...They're 'Just Ducky'

We've been waiting for wood ducks.  While we have heard them, and seen some circling overhead, we  haven't seen them swimming around in the swamp yet this year.  Hopefully, they are just being 'wiley' and will nest in the two boxes I cleaned and added fresh wood shavings to a month ago.

We do have a pair of mallards that I've been seeing regularly.  So, I decided to embrace the mallards and not worry about the wood ducks.  Even though mallards are common, there must be some interesting things I can learn about them!

Any kind of ducks can be difficult to photograph.  Besides the obvious reasons-- they are often at a distance, out on the water... AND moving.   There are other reasons as well.

Preening is one.

While it is fun to watch mallards preening, it does make for some weird-looking poses.

Ducks need to preen quite often, to maintain their waterproofing.  The preen gland they have near their tail provides the oil, which they rub with their bills all thru their feather.

 After preening comes nap time.  That doesn't make for very good photos either, so I'll include the Canada geese to the left and painted turtles to the right of our sleeping Mallards.

Another problem with photographing them is that one or the other of them usually has their head underwater.

 If it's not the hen, it's the drake.

Or-- one or the other has their tail in the air.

They act this way because they are busy eating things in the water.  One of the things I learned about Mallards is they are not fussy eaters.  I read that they eat aquatic insect larvae, earthworms, snails, and freshwater shrimp.  This is what I read, mind you.... I doubt they are eating shrimp in our beaver swamp!  During migration they eat agricultural seeds and grains; and in city parks they eat handouts from park-goers.

While ducks can be difficult to photograph, sometimes I get photographs of them and don't even know it until later.  I was so excited to see a great-blue heron on March 26th, that I didn't even notice the Mallards!

Of course, the hen has her head in the water!

Meanwhile, nap time is over and our drake gets back in the water and begins to swim away.

 Can you see him now?

The hen seems not to be in a hurry, which is nice because the drake was in front of her in the other photos.  She is more subdued in coloring than her mate, but she is beautiful, too.

When she does swim away, she is well camouflaged.

Although her bright mate can hide pretty well, too, when conditions are right.

Our mallards may be 'common' -- in fact, they are the most abundant and wide-ranging ducks in North America, but I'm glad this pair choose our swamp for their home.

I can't finish this post without sharing some of the other interesting things I read about them.

The familiar 'quack' we attribute to ducks?  That's the female mallard.  The males also make sounds but theirs is a deeper "mek" or "whak".  When you hear a female persistently quacking, it may mean she is choosing her nesting site.  (I heard ours doing this at 5:30 one morning... I hope she found a good spot!)  Also, did you know that she will pluck down from her own breast for nest lining?  Now, that's a good mother!  Also, she lays more than half her body weight in eggs!

Mallards are social when they are not nesting, gathering in large flocks called "sords".  That's a new word for me.  Migrating flocks have been clocked flying at 55 mph!

Next time I watch our mallards, I'll have a better appreciation for their species.  Although, what's not to love about any ducks?  After all, the word "ducky" has these meanings:
1.) darling, cute
2.) satisfactory, fine

I'd say our mallards fit both!

Duck, Duck, Goose

Twenty acre swamp
Two mallards and goose nearby
Seem strange company 

Why crowd, food abounds
Winter has not come with ice
Hiding tasty bites

Savor while you can
Tidbits under ripples brown
Surely winter comes 

Playing childrens games?
Duck, duck, and Canada Goose
Eat, rest, maybe stretch 

O ache of injured wing
Flight a long forgotten thing
Overhead, flocks fly. 

Flock of Canada geese, migrating southward on December 28

They lingered long but
Now they fly quickly southward
Away from hunger.

One who cannot join
In the rush, hopes for the best
And, just perhaps,  trusts

That lady who goes
walking by, a cup of corn
Needed, will supply.

Robin Report and Some Spring Silliness

They're back!!!

My husband and I saw our first American Robins of the year on March 10th, as we were driving along our road about 3 miles south of our house.  The next morning on my walk, I kept watching and sure enough, there were two at our place.

One of my field guides says "This species is one of our most familiar birds".  As it is with familiar things, they can be easily taken for granted, so I decided to see if I could learn more about Robins.

First, I went to two of my favorite books. 

Yes, they are children's book, and no, that is not the silly part... I really do like these books!

Both books had this interesting piece of information about Robins:  They can eat 14 feet of earthworms a day! What an engrossing tidbit.

Almost everyone has probably watched Robins eating earthworms in the warmer months, but what are they eating this time of year?  The ground is still mostly snow-covered and frozen here.  Worms don't seem to be readily available!

The answer is... they eat berries and fruit, like this one is doing.  He was eating the hips from a multiflora rosebush.

He didn't look quite as comfortable doing this as Robins usually look when they are hopping along on the ground, but he was getting the job done.  (I say "he" because the males are usually the first ones back.  There is not too much difference in the appearance between male and female Robins other than the females are a little paler.)

One thing I learned about Robins that I didn't know was that they have an expandable esophagus they can store food in.  So on a cold winter (or even spring) afternoon, they can stuff it with extra berries or fruit to eat when they need the calories during the long night.

Last March, our Robins were eating apples that had made it thru the winter.

Wow, that would have been a lot to fit in an expandable esophagus!

This morning I saw more Robins... a flock of 13, in fact.... on Friday the 13th!  Thirteen might be a lucky number for them, since the oldest recorded Robin lived to be 13 years and 11 months old.

Here are some of the flock from this morning:

If you'd like to learn more about our American Robins, including why they are named that, you can read about them by clicking here.

Of course, you know that Robins are thought of as a sign of Spring.  I would agree, but the birds of my childhood that meant spring had arrived were Red-winged Blackbirds.  We had a small creek that I walked by on my way to our school-bus stop.  I would be excited when I saw the first blackbirds there each year.   Even now, many years later, I still listen and watch for their arrival... and this morning was it!

I was out feeding the birds and some Blue Jays were making a racket, but I thought I heard a different voice... sure enough, it was the "O-ka-lee" of a blackbird.  The photo above shows one Blackbird (there were 2) and one of the robins.  

I already know that by mid-summer, when our swamp is full of Red-winged Blackbirds, their singing will be causing me to think: "Please be quiet so I can hear the other birds".  Such is the fickle human heart!  But for now, mine is happy they are back.

Some other birds I actually wasn't expecting back yet were in the swamp, too.

Our first-of-the-year dates for Mallards are typically in March... but, after there is more open water!

There was a tiny bit of water on March 9th, the date these photos were taken, but not much.  In the photo above, you can see the top of the head of a Mallard drake (slightly to the right of the hen standing on the snow).  He was in the water, and that's how high the snowbanks were on each side.  She seemed to express her displeasure in this situation by taking flight.  "Those silly drakes said it was time to come back here!"

She didn't go far on that flight, but I haven't seen the three ducks since, so I think they decided to go somewhere else, at least for the time being.  I don't blame them-- this is how the swamp looked that day:

Since then, we've had a bit more water open up...

and other critters are taking advantage of it, like this muskrat:

I watched him for quite awhile late Wednesday afternoon.

He was eating something, and then seemed to be taking a bath.  Seriously!  Well, maybe that's silly, too. 

Off he goes...

It was so nice to be able to go for a walk after supper (a good thing about day-light saving time) and enjoy the warmer temperatures.  The sun was going down and making a shadow of our house, and palm trees (just kidding, but they do sort of look like that, don't they?).  A strange person is waving.  You can also see the muskrat if you look closely just above the peak of the roof shadow to the right.

I hope you've seen some signs of spring (and that you are so happy about it that you can be a little silly, too).

Harriet, Hank, and Freddy?

Late yesterday afternoon I was in the kitchen, making dinner.  It had been raining and then the sun broke thru the clouds, so I went to the living room window to see if there was a rainbow.  Conditions weren’t just right for a rainbow, but I saw something else beautiful instead.

There was a Great-blue Heron and a pair of Mallards.

As I looked a little more, I saw two more herons.

Last year, for the first time in the 36 years we’ve lived here, a pair of Great-blue Herons nested in the beaver swamp across the road.

This was very exciting and we watched the nest closely.  Herons usually nest in colonies, and there is a large colony of them along the Susquehanna River, but that’s quite a few miles from us, and not easy to see even if you go there.  Now we had a nest we could watch everyday! 
 

When I asked a bird expert about our lone heron’s nest, he told me that occasionally a pair does this.  He said they might continue to nest by themselves in the future, or perhaps more will join them.

We had a wonderful spring and early summer watching the adults incubate the eggs...then, finally some fuzzy heads appeared! 

They got bigger and bigger quickly -- four babies when we could finally count them!

Here they are looking as big as the adult, who came to feed them and is sitting on top of the tree.

Unfortunately, one very hot, sunny day, the smallest one did not make it, but the other three continued to grow and then practice stretching and flapping their wings.  They also practiced the motion they would make once they would be feeding themselves, by making quick, stabbing motions in the nest.  

They would walk out on the dead tree limbs and flap their wings.  We wondered if a limb would break!  It never did.  Herons have hollow bones like all birds, so even though they look heavy, they actually only weigh 5 to 6 pounds.

Finally, they each flew from the nest, one by one... and then they were fun to watch as they learned to fend for themselves in the swamp.  They also returned to the nest from time to time.

 So, anyway, back to yesterday afternoon.  Here were 3 herons.  Could they be our “babies” from last year?  I hope they are! 

 No one is using the heron nest this year.  Although for a few days, we thought this silly goose was going to!

I like to think these herons are the siblings who were raised in the nest last year.  They do seem to have some sibling rivalry going on, as the two in the back weren't acting very happy to be so close to each other.

One decided to try fishing somewhere else and the other one flew away, too.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“Guess I’m stuck here with the Mallards.  They’re not much fun... they just keep sticking their heads underwater!”