Nature Note #132: Sea Ducks. Sea Ducks Swim.
Sea ducks. Bay ducks. Marsh ducks. So many kinds of ducks!
For those of you that think ducks are those aquatic birds that swim around in ponds, eating bread, and gracing the pages of the Boston-based classic Make Way for Ducklings, you would be right about 1 out of 39 times (39 being the number of regularly occurring species in North America). The most common and easily recognized duck is the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and generally speaking, is the one most people think of when they think of a duck.
However, as the title suggests, the waterfowl family isn't simply one species. The birds I want to talk about today are some of the toughest, roughest, and even, dare I say it, attractive ducks in the Anatidae family! The name "sea duck" originates in several older documents including the earlier versions of Roger Tory Peterson's field guides and refers to their preferred winter habitat of coastlines, harbors, and the open ocean. They are bulky, often brightly patterned, and subsist on a diet largely made up of invertebrates, crustaceans, and small fish.
When I visited with my girlfriend Alison this past week, we went birding the Plymouth Breakwater behind East Bay Grille and to Manomet Point. Despite the mild deluge we were subjected to while we were there, we saw many of the common wintering sea ducks you would expect at this time of year. The most common resident to New England is the Common Eider (Someteria mollisima), a largely white duck with a weird greenish yellow bill tabs(?), black belly, and the smoothest call in the world. It lives on the coast year round and has even nested on the Boston Harbor Islands in the past.
As we walked along the breakwater, I snapped a few photos of the males as they swam in the rain. Needless to say, the shots came out looking really artsy.
"I should try this again sometime", I thought, hands shaking from the cold.
Another common winter resident was also diving and frolicking in the cold harbor. They were the puffy-headed Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola), smaller relatives of the goldeneyes (the ducks, not the nefarious super villain), which Peterson technically referred to as "bay ducks". The name comes from their more frequent appearances on large freshwater lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and ponds, as well as in more brackish and saltwater habitats. The Aythya genus (consisting of mainly of scaups and pochards) consumes a diet of plant and animal material with the ski slope headed Canvasback (Aythya valisineria) getting its species epithet from its historic preference for wild celery, an aquatic weed found in lakes and ponds across the continent.
Several times when were walking back, groups of these small, toy-like ducks would skitter away in panicked flight, while issuing high-pitched croaks and grunts. While the males (of most species to be honest) are the most commented and doted upon, I really like the simple design of the females with their small white cheeks and pleasant mixes of grey and brown on body and tail. As far as identification goes, they are easy to recognize and are a good starting point when learning about other species of waterfowl.
We left the dreary harbor for Manomet Point, a popular birding hotspot on a projection of land in Plymouth from where sea ducks, gulls, loons, and other water birds gather to feed in the turbulent waters off of the shore. Occasionally, Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) will "gile and gimble" in the waves and loaf like finned sausages on the rocks at low tide. As soon as we exited the car, I saw the most beautiful of all sea ducks and conceivably, one of the most attractive of all waterfowl. Bobbing in the violent surf and amongst the titanic waves that rolled with conviction towards the shore were a hearty brace of Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus). A bold mix of whites blue, chestnut, and black really jumps out on a wet day, allowing one to see how they got their name.
We watched them for a dozen or so more minutes, but the damp conditions drove us off to other pursuits. Still it was nice to see these diverse waterfowl in their natural habitats and to get so many photos of them. Even though I didn't get any Bonaparte's Gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) this day, hopefully I can snag some before the end of the year is upon me.
For those of you that think ducks are those aquatic birds that swim around in ponds, eating bread, and gracing the pages of the Boston-based classic Make Way for Ducklings, you would be right about 1 out of 39 times (39 being the number of regularly occurring species in North America). The most common and easily recognized duck is the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and generally speaking, is the one most people think of when they think of a duck.
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| Mallards at Hager Pond in Marlboro, MA. |
When I visited with my girlfriend Alison this past week, we went birding the Plymouth Breakwater behind East Bay Grille and to Manomet Point. Despite the mild deluge we were subjected to while we were there, we saw many of the common wintering sea ducks you would expect at this time of year. The most common resident to New England is the Common Eider (Someteria mollisima), a largely white duck with a weird greenish yellow bill tabs(?), black belly, and the smoothest call in the world. It lives on the coast year round and has even nested on the Boston Harbor Islands in the past.
As we walked along the breakwater, I snapped a few photos of the males as they swam in the rain. Needless to say, the shots came out looking really artsy.
"I should try this again sometime", I thought, hands shaking from the cold.
Another common winter resident was also diving and frolicking in the cold harbor. They were the puffy-headed Buffleheads (Bucephala albeola), smaller relatives of the goldeneyes (the ducks, not the nefarious super villain), which Peterson technically referred to as "bay ducks". The name comes from their more frequent appearances on large freshwater lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and ponds, as well as in more brackish and saltwater habitats. The Aythya genus (consisting of mainly of scaups and pochards) consumes a diet of plant and animal material with the ski slope headed Canvasback (Aythya valisineria) getting its species epithet from its historic preference for wild celery, an aquatic weed found in lakes and ponds across the continent.
Several times when were walking back, groups of these small, toy-like ducks would skitter away in panicked flight, while issuing high-pitched croaks and grunts. While the males (of most species to be honest) are the most commented and doted upon, I really like the simple design of the females with their small white cheeks and pleasant mixes of grey and brown on body and tail. As far as identification goes, they are easy to recognize and are a good starting point when learning about other species of waterfowl.
We left the dreary harbor for Manomet Point, a popular birding hotspot on a projection of land in Plymouth from where sea ducks, gulls, loons, and other water birds gather to feed in the turbulent waters off of the shore. Occasionally, Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) will "gile and gimble" in the waves and loaf like finned sausages on the rocks at low tide. As soon as we exited the car, I saw the most beautiful of all sea ducks and conceivably, one of the most attractive of all waterfowl. Bobbing in the violent surf and amongst the titanic waves that rolled with conviction towards the shore were a hearty brace of Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus). A bold mix of whites blue, chestnut, and black really jumps out on a wet day, allowing one to see how they got their name.
We watched them for a dozen or so more minutes, but the damp conditions drove us off to other pursuits. Still it was nice to see these diverse waterfowl in their natural habitats and to get so many photos of them. Even though I didn't get any Bonaparte's Gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) this day, hopefully I can snag some before the end of the year is upon me.
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