Wood Ducks Swim Through Slime

A couple days ago I showed a couple Painted Turtles basking above green waters; today I'm showing Wood Ducks swimming through it. And similar to the Painted Turtle situation, it's at least possible the ducks would eat at least some of the green vegetation. 

Though it's difficult for me to know exactly what the vegetation is comprised of, if there's duckweed out there, that's definitely on the Wood Duck menu. Though they'll eat small animals - mainly invertebrates - 80% of their omnivorous diet is comprised of plant material.

Still, too much green in the water is usually a sign of fertilizer runoff that's polluting the waterway.

This looks like a female (left) and male (right), though the male is without the more flamboyant breeding plumage in this picture.

August 30, 2022 at Washington Valley Reservoir
Photo 229848163, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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