Waterfowl

Joe Meche is a member of the board of directors of the North Cascades Audubon Society and has been the editor of the chapter newsletter for the past six years. Joe has been photographing birds and landscapes for over thirty years and has been watching birds for more than fifty years.

My earliest exposure to birds was more audible than it was visual. My extended family and even a few friends know that I claim to have vivid memories of the day that my Dad brought home a black puppy that was to become King, my family’s top dog for many years. I was less than a year old and in diapers at the time. The sine qua non is that I’ve been blessed with an acute memory.

In that great realm of memories, I can remember hearing the sounds of migrating geese at a very early age, often in the middle of the night while the rest of the family was asleep. I can remember lying in bed, fascinated by the alien sound. As I grew older and my grandfather explained the origin of the sound, I was left to wonder how on earth they could possibly know where they were going! While the numbers of migrating waterfowl are still impressive today, fifty years ago they were phenomenal! Endless flights of waterfowl descended upon the rice fields and marshes of southwestern Louisiana.

Of all the waterfowl that arrived in those first crisp days of fall and departed again in spring, it was the geese that heralded the changing seasons. As I grew older, the sounds of migrating geese each year honed those early memories to the point where I’ll never be able to forget the unmistakable sound of waterfowl migration. Geese and other comparatively-silent waterfowl share the credit for setting in motion an interest in birds which continues to build with every season.

All waterfowl belong to the order Anseriformes and are among the most popular birds of all. Waterfowl have been a source of fascination and appreciation throughout history. They have been the fiber of mystery because of their migratory habits; they can be quite beautiful and are an immense pleasure to observe; and have been a reliable source of food for eons.

Waterfowl are primarily birds of wetlands and range from the tundra to the tropics and they can be found on the open ocean as well as on alpine lakes. Waterfowl are, sad to say, very susceptible to the influence of humans, whether from hunting pressure or destruction of essential habitat.

The waterfowl family consists of ducks, geese, and swans. There are approximately 160 species of waterfowl in the world and although they can vary greatly in size, habitat requirements, and feeding and nesting habits, most species share many similar characteristics. Waterfowl are heavy-bodied birds with short tails, strong wings, and webbed feet for swimming.

In size, waterfowl range from the thirty-pound trumpeter swan to the one-pound bufflehead. While there are fewer swan species than there are goose species and fewer goose species than there are duck species, a good place to start learning about waterfowl is to start with the ducks. The old adage states that if it looks like and duck and acts like a duck, then it must be a duck. The obvious question, however, is what kind of duck? Plumage is an obvious clue to answer that question. We should also consider location and the methods employed to forage for food. Some ducks are divers while others are dabblers. Some ducks are considered sea and bay ducks, while others prefer fresh water locales.

A few ducks, as well as geese and swans, patter along the surface of the water and need a bit of runway to take off. Other ducks are capable of flying straight up from the water, due to their wing size and impressive musculature that is essential for the sudden lift-offs. The primary ingredients are the supracoracoideus and pectoralis muscles that elevate and depress the wings respectively. This adaptation allows many fresh water species to utilize the smallest ponds and potholes to feed and rest, as well as to nest.

Many ducks, geese, and swans make their nests on the ground. They begin with a simple scrape on the ground and then use nearby materials to line the scrape. I’ve observed geese sitting on nests, reaching out to a full neck’s length to gather material and then tuck it in underneath their bodies. Ducks tend to conceal their nests and the females are usually cryptically-colored to aid in their concealment as they brood, hatch, and raise their ducklings. The idea behind the concealment is to reduce exposure of the young to predators.

Several species nest in natural tree cavities and man-made nesting boxes. Locally, Tricia Otto has come to the aid of the wood duck population by creating a network of nesting boxes throughout the western lowlands of Whatcom County. These nesting boxes have taken the place of natural tree cavities that have been lost to habitat destruction. Due primarily to her efforts, the wood duck numbers on the annual Bellingham Christmas Bird Count (CBC) continue to increase. Some of Tricia Otto’s boxes have contributed to nesting success for hooded mergansers, as well. Other cavity-nesting species include Barrow’s and common goldeneyes and buffleheads.

In the majority of ducks and geese, the females incubate. In the case of geese and swans, while the females incubate the eggs, the males aggressively defend the nests. Goose and swan families generally stay together during the newborns’ first year. The males of most duck species take no part in rearing the young. A noticeable difference between other bird species and waterfowl is that the adults do not feed the young, as most bird species do. The young are precocial, as opposed to altricial, and are able to walk, swim, and feed themselves from the time that they hatch.

Whatcom County has recorded 36 waterfowl species ranging from the common-to-abundant mallard to the one-time visit of an emperor goose in 1995. Approximately 28 of those species have shown up on the CBC, including the record-high number of 70 wood ducks on the 2002 count. Many waterfowl species are considered to be winter visitors or are observed during migration. The large and often impressive numbers of wintering waterfowl have contributed to the designation of places like Drayton Harbor and Semiahmoo Bay as Important Bird Areas of Washington state.

These same wintering flocks of waterfowl were also instrumental in bringing the first loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail to the western lowlands of Whatcom County. An easy drive north on the Guide Meridian will take you to Wiser Lake, a non-hunting lake that is usually crammed with waterfowl throughout the winter. Eurasian wigeons can often be found among the large flocks of the more common American wigeons.

The south end of Birch Bay is a good place to visit in early to mid-April if you want to observe a waterfowl-seabird spectacular. As a preliminary to migration to their respective nesting grounds, northbound flocks of many waterfowl species stop off to feed and fatten themselves for their long journeys on the herring spawn in the waters around Point Whitehorn and as far south as Cherry Point.

The species found in the feeding frenzy in April often include black, surf, and white-winged scoters, harlequin ducks, long-tailed ducks—formerly oldsquaws—and red-breasted mergansers. Make a note on your calendar to have a look at this often-phenomenal gathering.

Coincidental to this spectacle is the inaugural Brant Festival, slated for April 12-13 at Semiahmoo. Look in the local Audubon newsletter for more information about this festival which will highlight a little-known member of the waterfowl family—Brant. You can also find out more about the festival by visiting the website of the Washington Brant Foundation at http://www.washingtonbrant.org. Brant are regular winter visitors to Whatcom County waters and can usually be found wherever there are eelgrass beds. Their numbers tend to increase in local waters in the spring, just prior to their migration to the Izembek Bay area of the Alaskan Coast.

As intriguing as the cavity nesting ducks are, there is one species that is equal to or surpasses that, given their unlikely journey. In a nesting oddity that has some similarity to that of the marbled murrelet, a saltwater alcid, the harlequin duck leaves its usual saltwater habitat and flies up turbulent mountain streams to nest and rear its young.

A few years ago, I observed one particular female harlequin duck with seven ducklings in tow on the North Fork of the Nooksack River, about five miles upstream from the town of Glacier. Harlequins will dive to the bottom of the stream and walk against the current in search of food! This is nothing short of amazing when you consider all that goes into this bit of adaptive evolution.

If you’re just beginning to explore the avian world and feel the need to focus your attention on a particular group of birds, give some serious consideration to waterfowl. Waterfowl have a closer relationship with humans than any other birds. Their numbers in migration can be staggering and are always a joy to observe. The members of the waterfowl family are varied and some species or other can be found throughout the area most of the year. During certain times of the year, you might also keep your ears tuned to the night sky. The sounds of migrating waterfowl are every bit as spectacular as the sight of thousands of snow geese settling in to forage for the day in the open fields.§