It is a good thing the south winds haven’t blown in any of the returning ducks yet since my pond still has a layer of ice covering it. So far the Blue-winged Teal have only visit my pond for a few weeks each spring but haven’t stayed to nest so apparently my area isn’t appealing to the females, who decide where to nest by flying over possible areas and she may take several days to decide.
Too Early for Ducks
Even though there was a few patches of ice left on my pond, some ducks finally returned last evening. There were three wood ducks and a pair of mallards all swimming around the pond and the female wood duck entered the wood duck house several times so maybe the weather will stay nice so she can lay some eggs.
Return of the Wood Ducks
Wood Ducks Preening
https://youtu.be/s2zpeiEXqEc&w=640&h=430&rel=0
With a long string of sub-zero nights, there haven’t been any warm days to melt snow or the ice on my pond so it will be a while any ducks will land there. These blue-winged teals have only visited my pond and haven’t nested there.
The Teals
A lot of the summer birds have left and headed south already, like the wrens, grosbeaks and orioles, but not all the ducks have left and have been enjoying the warm fall days.
Duck Gathering
I took a walk around outside, in an attempt to look for any mail which might have blown out of my mailbox from the windy days since it was blowing the door open, but there wasn’t too much activity happening in the field. With the pond still covered with ice, there are no wood ducks hanging around the pond, even though most of the snow is gone, at least temporarily.
No Ducks Yet
A rainy Sunday morning doesn’t lend itself for a walk in the woods to look at wildflowers as a majority of blossoms will be closed up with no sun shining, but there is some color to see, especially in the pond with some ducks playing and splashing in the water. My little pond has become a stopping place for eleven wood ducks and three mallards and at times it looks like water skiers when some of the males chase each other.
Male Wood Ducks
When I was traveling on some remote roads in the Chequamegon National Forest, I came across some large moving tennis balls. Or at first glance that is what they appeared to be until the three “balls” piled on top of each other. When my vehicle got closer, one went up the ditch bank into the woods and the other two re-piled to hide and stayed as still as possible so I wouldn’t notice them on the edge of the road.
I didn’t see mommy duck or any water nearby, so hopefully the family of ducks got back together after I drove pass them.
Baby Ducks Trying Not To Be Seen
When I was outside one day last week looking for any hint of some wildflower, a pair of ducks were circling to land in my pond but they spotted me and flew off. I didn’t recognize the smaller duck species as each spring I get some temporary visitors on their journey farther north. The next evening they did land in the pond but since it was so windy that day, they stayed hidden behind the long grass so I still couldn’t identify them
A couple of years ago, I did have some visiting Blue-winged Teal ducks stop over on their trek back from their winter stay in South America but since my pond is too small, they ventured elsewhere after a day of resting.
Pair of Blue-winged Teal Ducks
Well it seems that it wasn’t only kids playing hooky yesterday, as there was a small group of ducks playing in the pond yesterday. The Blue-winged Teal ducks were swimming and were napping in the warm sun. It was interesting watching one of the male ducks tuck its head on its back and go to sleep but the wind was strong enough, that it was pushing the floating duck to the other side of the pond. He would wake up and swim back to the other side and then settle down for another nap and ride.
When evening approached, then the some ducks explored the pond for food while others were bobbing their heads up in the mating ritual but it appeared some of the males weren’t too popular with the girls.
Blue-winged Teal Ducks
