Ducks on Ice, Episode #1
January 28, 2024
I wait for it every year, hoping at least once the lake will freeze and that the conditions will be right to spend some time in a quiet marina with all the birds who show up when everything else is frozen. The marina has bubblers to keep it from freezing right around the docks and this creates a perfect lure for many of the ducks that otherwise prefer to keep to the hidden coves, small ponds, or the middle of the lake. It creates the perfect conditions to get close to some birds I rarely get close to otherwise.
This year it happened from January 15th to January 21st. The only imperfection in the conditions was the sub-zero temperatures. I do think that’s the coldest conditions I have been out in. I am grateful for layers upon layers of clothing and the ability to be out in those conditions for a little bit to enjoy it!
The main attraction was the hooded mergansers. I counted as many as eighty-eight one morning in the very small area around the marina that was open water. Hooded mergansers are small, skittish, and at other times hard to photograph. The first few days they wanted to fly away when I walked down but after a couple days they seemed to settle down and allow me to sit closer to them.
There were geese too, though for the most part they were content to sleep on the ice and not get in the water. There were flocks of geese out on the lake - they can sometimes melt the ice just with their collective body heat!
There was a gang of mallards that numbered as many as forty. I say gang because they would move from place to place stirring things up when they weren’t resting on the ice. They are the biggest of the ducks I saw and most of the other ducks either hid among them or got out of their way. I’m used to ducks moving away from me, but every time I walked down the whole gang of mallards would swim right towards me. It took me a while to figure out they were hoping I would feed them!
If you’re wondering why I say episodes, plural, I took about 10,000 photos in the span of a few days. I have culled them down to several hundred. This feels fortuitous because without ice (and our forecast is in the 50s next week!) this time of year can be a bit slow for photos. Many years I have taken photos of the winter ducks and never gotten them posted. This year I’m determined to let them be seen - so I hope you don’t tire of them before I do.
You’ll see other special guests showing up as our episodes proceed, but for the moment I want to get back to our stars, the hooded mergansers.
Hooded mergansers are small ducks. The photo above gives you an idea of how much smaller they are than mallards. The males have distinctive black and white heads while the females are move reddish-brown. Both genders can work that hood when they want to though!
Even in January, there is plenty of posturing by both the males and females, but admittedly more by the males. They chase each other around flicking their heads, stretching out that long neck, and making a very guttural sound. I attempted to record it but the sound of the bubblers drowned them out. You can listen to their sound here, in the first recording titled, “Display”.
The females are vocal and if they are annoyed with being chased around they let everyone know it.
Sometimes they climb out and rest on the ice, though I noticed they didn’t do this nearly as long as the geese or mallards.
There’s also a lot of dunking under the water and flapping their wings. This seems to be part of the mating display, though sometimes maybe it’s just to stay warm?
They also know how to make a splash when they land! Landing is a full-throttle activity where they throw themselves at the water. I think it’s at full speed so they can take off again if they see something they don’t like at the last minute, but it sure makes for humorous face-first landings.
A flipped-up tail is also part of their charm, or at least it seems to work with both female mergansers and photographers.
As I said, many more episodes to come with these adorable little ducks and the special guests who showed up along the way.
Since Sunday we haven’t seen the sun at all. The temperature has hovered just over freezing, even at night, yet I can still find snow on the ground. If you’re wondering if the ice at the lake has melted, the county parks department posted this photo on Friday showing the ice they had to cut through to do the annual “polar plunge”:
The sun is supposed to return Sunday afternoon and then the temperatures are expected to rise into the forties and fifties. I’m looking forward to some new sunrises soon! Meanwhile I have lots of ice photos to tide us through some warmer weather.
Take good care of yourselves friends, whatever life is presenting you with right now.
I could look at ducks all day. thank you for the gift of your vision
That sunrise photo ... quintessential winter. SO beautiful! Thank you for venturing out in this weather to provide us with such glimpses of beauty. (I hope that means you're feeling better.)