Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

Some of you might have spotted the pun from the title, but in my opinion, the bird I saw last weekend was spectacular. It started when someone at work had reported a Snowy Owl ( Bubo scandiacus ) within the vicinity of the Rachel Carson NWR along Mile Stretch Road in Biddeford, ME. As I was working that week, I had to wait until Friday before I could go and see the bird. As soon as tasks were over for the day, I sped off to find my first of the year Snowy. To say I got lucky was an understatement because as I arrived along Mile Stretch Road, a large white bird flew up onto the telephone pole in front of me. Immediately, I parked my car on the shoulder and looked up at the chunky mass of white feathers on the pole. No doubt, I was a lucky guy! A female and/or immature Snowy sat, quietly surveying the area below, swiveling its head around to pick up vague visual and audio clues to prey nearby. The reason I thought it could be either one or both female or immature is because of the spar...

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. Mallards at Hager Pond in Marlboro, MA. 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 o...