Common Birds XIV - Wood Duck
What a day for birds! It’s 11 on Tuesday, I’m back at the pond, and I just saw my first palm warbler! I spotted a bird darting through the brush which is quickly turning lush and green. At first, I thought it was a chickadee, but it's torso was a little too long. Then, I thought it might have been a vireo. Most of my life, I had no idea that vireos existed, but they’re everywhere in the North Country during spring and summer: warbling, red-eyed, blue headed. I’ve been hoping to see some vireos this spring to remind me of my old home. The bird paused on a thin branch and I got a good look at it with my monocular, and Ah! it was yellow with olive undertones and a rich red cap. Immediately, I knew it was a warbler and a species I’d never seen before. Merlin, a great birding app from Cornell, told me it was a palm warbler, passing through on its way from the South coast or the Caribbean up to Canada.
The rain had stopped. Earlier, it hissed on the surface of the pond as it lightly fell. The two female hooded mergansers were still there from this morning, possibly from yesterday. Normally, if they see me they go hide. Now, they either don’t see me or don’t care. They move freely over the pond’s surface, rearing frequently. There’s a turtle basking in a log, and a phoebe and nuthatch call overhead.
This morning, as the rain fell, I was at the pond, stopping at the gap in the trees to take a picture. A wood duck drake swam towards the center of the pond from the shore closest to where I entered the trail. Wood duck drakes are beautiful. They have a deep red, almost purple breast, a black back, and cream colored sides. An iridescent, forest green mane sweeps back over their heads. White eyebrows frame their bright red irises, and secondary white lines run like tears from the outer corners of their eyes. He swam out into the pond and I could see him open his beak and yell, but all I heard was a tiny squeak. Then, I noticed the hen standing on a log near the shore. She was light brown, with iridescent purple patches on her wings. Her eyes were ringed with white like spectacles. The two hooded merganser hens were standing on the far shore, preening, that is, using their beaks to spread water repellant oil on their feathers. They looked like my cats giving themselves a bath. Shortly, the drake was satisfied that I was cowed, or his squeaking had nothing to do with me, and drake and hen swam around the bend towards the stream.
In two walks and less than thirty minutes, I saw over 20 different species: wild turkey, American robin, blue jay, northern cardinal, mourning dove, red-winged blackbird, eastern phoebe, nuthatch, chickadee, dark-eyed junco, Carolina wren, song sparrow, house sparrow, palm warbler, mallard, hooded merganser, wood duck, American crow, fish crow, herring gull, and Canada goose.
