Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Ducks Going to Roost

About 6:15 last night I mentioned to Mike that a blue-morph snow goose had been seen out at the Dobbins Farm Ponds yesterday.  He asked if I wanted to go try to see it, and of course I said yes.  We left immediately because it still seemed fairly light, but as we got out there we could tell that it was really too late to identify anything very well.

We could tell at least that there were no geese out there (except for two Canadas), but there were a lot of ducks.  So Mike asked me if I wanted to stay to watch them go to roost, as ducks rarely overnight at the same place where they spent the day.  Of course I again said yes.  We waited about fifteen minutes, watching the darkening sky and the fifty or so ducks in the pond.  Then, at some unseen signal, about thirty of them rose up as one, flew in a large circle toward the west, then came back around and flew toward the east.  Mike said they were probably going to roost in a nearby swamp.  About five minutes later, another group rose up and flew in the opposite direction; then the final group flew, in a circle and toward the east, like the first one.

The sight was beautiful against the last rays of sunlight.  Who knows what the trigger is that makes a certain flock rise up and fly away to roost.  Mike said that maybe an alpha male makes a sound; however, he didn't know for sure what it might be.  It was a relaxing thing to watch on a day that had been stressful for us both.

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