northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a Mallard swimming through shallow water. I've talked about Mallards before, including their willingness to hybridize with relatives and that most domesticated ducks are domesticated Mallards . And I've also mentioned that only the female Mallards make the classic quacking vocalization ; you can compare their sounds here . Us humans try to represent the male's calls as "wrack" or "kwek" [1][2]. May 25, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 292816482, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] You can try all the quacking, wracking, and kwekking you want, but you're probably not going to convince a Mallard that you speak their language. (I'm also skeptical that honking at them will fool them into thinking you're a goose either.) [2] You might notice that "wrack" rhymes with "quack" while "kwek" is basically "quack" with a different vowel. It's easy to believe these similar-but-distinct sound...

I saw this guy and his girl out for a swim in the Delaware Raritan Canal. (Don't try this yourself; the rangers have rules against this.) I've certainly talked about Mallards before, and they and the Canada Goose are the easiest-to-find year-round waterfowl in New Jersey, so unless you spend your days in a sensory deprivation tank you've probably seen plenty of them [1]. There is a belief among hunters that a northern group (subspecies?) of Mallard are larger, and thus more desirable to hunters, but given the way they breed it's virtually impossible for there to be an isolated population of Mallards that don't mix with their cousins. Basically female Mallards hook up with males regardless of the male's birthplace and lead him back to her childhood neighborhood. Mallards are not only common and widespread across the Northern Hemisphere, they're also the ancestors of most domesticated ducks, probably making them the most abundant waterfowl species. And Ma...

Is this male Mallard showing off his ability to stand on 1 leg? And is an unimpressed female Mallard ignoring him? Probably not. Many birds are way better at standing on 1 leg than most of us humans are, and can even sleep standing on 1 leg. (Don't try this at home!) During cold weather having only 1 leg fully exposed to the elements probably has some value, though this picture was taken in early May; most birds coming off of winter probably weren't too concerned about warmth. Certainly the female sitting next to him wasn't bothered by the cold. It sounds like bird muscles and ligaments work a bit differently than ours , and that when they stand on 1 leg, this leg "locks". This makes it unable to bend until the bird brings down its other leg, so standing on 1 leg is stable - even during sleep - and relatively efficient. So this duck probably isn't showing off but actually resting comfortably. May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282299069, (c) jpviolette, so...

A raft is one of the many names of a group of ducks, and for some reason this spot was popular with the local ducks. I think we've got 3 species out there: I think the 2 on the right are Mallards , 1 male and 1 female. The dark 1 standing in the middle might be an American Black Duck ; at least it looks quite a bit darker than the presumed female Mallard. The other 4 white-bodied ducks are almost certainly Common Mergansers , with 2 green-headed males and 2 tan-headed females. My impression is that many ducks are pairing up heading into breeding season, so 3 potential breeding pairs makes a certain amount of sense. The (presumed) American Black Duck didn't have an obvious companion, but that doesn't mean there wasn't 1 nearby. March 16, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 267710181, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Boys will be boys. In this picture a male Mallard may well be splashing (what I believe to be) a male Common Merganser . These are our 2 most frequently seen green-headed ducks (though they're not closely related). Though it might look a little obnoxious, this is frequently a way for ducks to clean their feathers, though apparently males will also do it to attract the attention of females. It's unclear whether female ducks find this attractive, but it is at least attention-getting. March 16, 2023 at the Raritan Water Power Canal Photo 267710089, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) This Canada Goose was also having a splashing good time that same day. March 16, 2023 at the Raritan Water Power Canal Photo 267709364, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

One thing I try and do with I'm about to come out into the open is to have my camera on autofocus with maximum magnification, and sometimes even turn the camera on before breaking cover. This way if some animal sees me and attempts to run/hide/fly, I have a chance of getting a picture of them anyway [1]. That's probably what happened when I photographed these Mallards who clearly didn't want to be in the same vicinity as me [2]. Although I say I try to do this, I still get surprised a lot. A couple weeks ago I missed a shot of a muskrat because it swam around the bend before I turned on my camera and was ready for action. One good thing about a picture like this is it shows off the purple on their wings pretty well; when standing/swimming I'll usually just get glimpses of it.  February 21, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 264701989, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] Autofocus is notorious for focusing on the wrong thing, so this doesn't always work. [2] I...

Around here if you're around open water it's fairly likely you'll run across 1 or more Great Blue Herons . While they're certainly not as plentiful as omnivorous waterfowl like Mallards or Canada Geese , their tendency to forage alone causes them to spread out so that a lot of our wetlands have a Great Blue Heron patrolling it. One day last winter while visiting Duke Island Park/Raritan River Greenway [1] I'm pretty sure I encountered 3 of these birds. How do I know these aren't the same bird? I guess I really don't know for sure. Different posture and lighting could give a single heron 3 different looks. Still, none of these birds left on my account, so I suspect they'd have no compelling reason to leave the general area as I moved on. February 10, 2023 at the Raritan Water Power Canal Photo 263680969, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) February 10, 2023 at the Raritan Water Power Canal Photo 263680834, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved...

When taking pictures of Mallards , it's important to get them to smile for the camera by saying "Cheese!" [1]. Unfortunately instead of smiling these ducks ducked their heads underwater. This is apparently a common occurrence when photographing Mallards; at least they didn't the high-butt dabble though. In reality, the ducks were no doubt attempting to get a bite to eat when sticking their heads in the water. Mallards are true omnivores, eating both small animals and vegetation like duckweed/watermeal . Still, I wouldn't generally expect ducks to be very cooperative when it comes to getting their picture taken. February 10, 2023 at the Raritan Water Power Canal Photo 263680646, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] The Mallard word for "cheese" (and virtually everything else) is "quack".

I met this pair of Mallards last winter and went to get a picture of the couple. One difficulty is that you don't always catch the ducks in the most flattering light, such as this female doing a deep dabble in search of food [1]. Though this is a fairly common feeding technique ( even among geese ), they'll also feed closer to the surface . (At least I think she was feeding; I suppose it's possible she was just camera shy.) January 1, 2023 at the Raritan Water Power Canal Photo 251773581, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] Dabbling (among ducks) is feeding in water without completely submerging, as opposed to diving completely underwater. Ducks are generally divided into divers who can disappear from the surface and dabblers who can't/won't do this.

Here's another fairly common bird that I haven't shown in this blog [1], the American Black Duck . I met this pair last December. Though they're supposed to be here all year round, I tend to see them much more in the colder months: 45 pictures between October and April, 0 pictures between May and September. When I see them during the winter I'll frequently see them either in pairs or amidst mixed flocks of waterfowl. (Squabbles over mates aside, most of our waterfowl seem to be on good terms with one another .) When I see them in pairs, I suspect they're frequently a pair that'll be breeding together the following spring; they'll start forming pair bonds as early as autumn. I suspect that's what's going on in my picture below. The males and females look pretty similar to one another, and they can also be mistaken for a female Mallard . If you've got good lighting and see something the size and shape of a Mallard but that looks grayish-black inste...

These are Green-winged Teals , a small duck that's theoretically here all winter. Almost all my sightings though have been in the spring, and the only exception was once in the fall. I suspect that although they might be kicking around in New Jersey during the winter in small numbers, it's when they pass through during migration that we're most likely to encounter these guys. (On the other hand, up north where they breed thousands can be found together.) We're supposed to be able to identify the males of these ducks due to their rufus-colored heads with a sizable green patch that starts at the eye and extends to the back of the head. But that's not what you'll see in my pictures. Remember when I showed that in certain light a green-headed Mallard can look purple instead? That seems to be happening here too with our Green-winged Teal friend.  April 22, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 197660298, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Here's a male/female pa...

A couple days ago I showed the superficial similarity between our 2 most common green-headed ducks , the Common Merganser and the Mallard . Those green heads are only present on the males of these species; are the females also similar? Not really. Other than both of them looking like ducks, there's really not much of a resemblance between female Mallards and Common Mergansers: Female Common Mergansers are mostly off-white or light gray, but unlike their male counterparts they have rich brown feathering on the head/neck, usually with a frizzy look. Female Mallards are duller brown on the head/neck but are a mottled brown below that. In flight (and sometimes in water) you'll spot some blue on the wings. While their mates might be confused with one another, these females shouldn't cause any confusion [1]. March 3, 2021 at Duke Island Park Photo 120274105, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) December 16, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 174170341, (c) jpviolette, some righ...

Though most of the green-headed ducks in this area are (male) Mallards , there are also some of these (male) Common Mergansers around too, especially in winter. While the Mallard is a decent-sized duck, the Common Merganser is noticeably bigger if you see them together. The CM is also mostly white below the neck, though there's also a dark area on the back (which can blend in with the water). The CM generally has a taller, sleeker look to them. And of course the females look different in both species; I'll show them in a future post. March 11, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 186585633, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) March 11, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 186585608, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

The family connections of Mallards are pretty complicated. This article mentions 2 aspects: Mallards may interbreed with other ducks like the American Black Duck , but the hybrids but they look more like Mallards, and these hybrids usually end up breeding with Mallards rather than American Black Ducks. (This might imply a breeding preference or just reflect that there are more Mallards out there for the hybrids to breed with.) The Mallards we have around here are mostly "hybrids" themselves between North American Mallards and Eurasian Mallards. (I used quotes because both North American and Eurasian Mallards are considered to be the same species.) And this article seems to suggest that true North American Mallards (generally found in the western US) are genetically closer to some North American ducks like the American Black Duck, the Mexican Duck , and the Mottled Duck than they are to Eurasian Mallards. (To me this makes it sound like either North American and Eurasian M...

Here's someone I hadn't seen at Duke Farms before, a pair of Snow Geese . This probably isn't outside their range, though they were new to me. They were on Heron Lake. Snow Geese are known to congregate in large flocks. I don't know how this pair got separated from a larger group of Snow Geese, but I suspect that in the absence of other Snow Geese they joined in with the next best thing: a flock of Canada Geese . There are also a pair of Mallards in the back, but they were just passing through; before and after the picture the Mallards were in different parts of the lake. Although Canada Geese have some reputation for being aggressive, I don't think I've ever seen them mistreating other waterfowl. I suppose the dynamic changes if they had vulnerable goslings around, but this time of year they seem accepting of the presence of the Snow Goose cousins. December 17, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 174171294, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)  

Here's a Mallard I met last spring. But there's something odd here; instead of the green head that Mallards are known for, this one had a purple head. Or did it? Generally speaking, Mallards can look this way in funky lighting. If you followed the Mallard around long enough, you'd eventually see the green head we're used to seeing. As you might expect, this isn't something that only happens with Mallards; people have also reported it in Northern Shovelers . Birders will sometimes see and/or get pictures of birds that show almost none of their blue, showing drab-looking Bluebirds, Blue Grosbeaks, and Indigo Buntings. I suspect that this is partly due to the way blue coloring is produced in (almost?) all animals . Unlike most colors, when you see a blue animal you're not seeing blue pigment, you're seeing black coloring on surfaces that are structured to scatter light and appear blue. (If you grind up a blue feather from a bird finely enough, you won't se...

Here are a couple Mallards that I'm pretty sure are feeding while swimming along. Certainly it's not their standard way of swimming from place-to-place; they'd have their heads out of the water then, allowing themselves to breathe. But it's also not the classic head-down-butt-up pose of the average dabbling duck . But dabbling is considered a way to feed on stuff that's close to the surface of the water, and I'm thinking this is another way of feeding near the surface. April 27, 2021 at the Delaware Raritan Canal

Though I talked a little about Mallard and Canada Goose relations, I haven't devoted a post to the Mallard. Let's fix that. This is one of our most common waterfowl, with estimates of 11 million in North America. The only wild waterfowl that might rival them is the Canada Goose. But they're not just successful as wild animals; most breeds of domestic ducks are descended from a Mallard. They also hybridize with lots of other duck species, suggesting that several other species aren't really far removed from Mallards from an evolutionary perspective. The classic "quack quack" we associate with Mallards is actually more of a female Mallard call. The male version is quieter and raspier. (Admittedly it's still more like a "quack" than a "moo" or "meow".) March 9, 2021 at the Raritan River Greenway Photo 120275529, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

One fairly common sight is to see Canada Geese and Mallards swimming around together. Generally speaking, my impression is that most waterfowl coexist together fairly well - though I've heard that Mute Swans may be an exception - and these two very common species are a good example. My impression is that waterfowl gather together primarily for safety; extra eyes means they're less susceptible to a surprise attack. In the winter I'll see fairly big flocks or Ring-necked Ducks with some American Black Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and/or Buffleheads mixed in too. And last fall I saw a grebe (neither a duck nor a goose but with a similar lifestyle) that seemed to like to hang with whatever ducks happened to be around. I found an article on their interactions , though it talks about their differences as much as their interactions.  March 9, 2021 at the Raritan River Greenway