Ducks In February!?

Yup, you read that right. Ducks in February. This winter at the bend in the river near the corner of the Perimeter Hwy. and St. Mary's Rd., a number of ducks and geese were keeping the water open for themselves and braving the cold to avoid having to migrate. Anxious to see some birds other than the regular winter residents (Ravens, Chickadees, House Sparrows, etc.) I decided to grab my camera and head over and check the reports out for myself. My travel and time was well worth it.

First cool thing was the sheer numbers with nearly 150 Mallards chilling together (quite literally). The wind was whipping down the river and I had tears pouring down my face from the wind in my eyes as I counted the birds through my binoculars. Here is a shot of the group which was packed together to rest.

Mallards resting beside the patch of open water

Who doesn't love to see Canada Geese in the winter? Whether they were early migrants or others braving the winter didn't matter... geese are geese.

Canada Geese

Another cool part of the trip was a female Common Goldeneye who was hanging out with the Mallards. I apologize for the heavily cropped picture.

Female Common Goldeneye

The personal highlight was an American Black Duck (a lifer for me) which was also part of the gang. Whoever first spotted it had a sharp eye as it blends in pretty well with the female Mallards.

American Black Duck with Mallards

Just so it's clear, the American Black Duck is the one with the yellow bill and dark eyeline. This picture makes it seem like it should be easy to differentiate as it came out pretty dark, but in reality, when viewing with your eyes it appears a lot similar in color to the female Mallards. The biggest difference is that female MALLs have an orange bill while ABDU's have yellow ones. For more information on American Black Ducks follow this link.

Overall, this little excursion produced four FOYs as well as one lifer... and it fired me up for migration; geese start returning in March and Mallards aren't too far behind. By the time the Mallards in migrating in force, everything else starts migrating too and things explode with life. Looking forward to that time!

Thanks for checking in!

Joel G.