If bird watching is referred to as "birding", what do we call water fowl watching? Water fowling? Let me know if you know.
The ice melted off the pond in early April. One of the first things that I do when I crawl out of bed is to look out the window to see if there's any movement on the water. The slight ripple immediately tells me that something is there. Well, on that first Saturday in early April, we had many visitors. What a treat! First came a pair of mallards, common you might think, perhaps but, I always feel such intense emotion when I see unexpected guests bless us with their presence. It's exciting!
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| Ever notice the curly tail feathers of a male mallard? |
And then came the hooded mergansers. So very pretty with their funky hairdos! They are agile swimmers and divers. I was happy to see that they were able to find food in our little pond.
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| How would you like that funky do? |
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I'm happy to say th
at frequent visitors are a pair of wood ducks. I'd like to built them a nesting box...
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| The wood duck is a sight to behold |
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Canada geese have also dropped in. I find them interesting to watch. The gander is very protective of the goose. He's constantly on the look out. If he's uncomfortable with his surroundings, he vocalizes it as if to say: "I don't feel safe here let's go!" And off they go. A pair even waddled up to the house to investigate. They didn't like what they saw and left.
Photo credits:
Mallards: Richard Clifton
Hooded Merganser: Pamela Gunn
Wood duck: Khan Than
I would love to see a wood duck up close. It seems whenever I catch a glimpse they are soon in flight. The hooded mergansers, so very exotic! I didn't even know we had them in our pocket of Ontario.
ReplyDeleteC.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to be bias, but those birds are rather pretty compared to the geese that hang around the lakefront! The pond is obviously a big bonus.