Yesterday we had our first ducks, right on time! Ducks usually arrive at our pond in February, but a day or two early is just fine with us. Perhaps they had a good tail wind flying from wherever to here? Two Ringnecks, male and female, just swimming about and enjoying the sunshine.
I like seeing these ducks. I do not think I have ever seen them over here — they have only been sighted in Nederland only 49 times between 1959 and 2021. Thank you for this posting.
Sjoerd, Gadwalls and Ringnecks are our most common visitors here. We are anxiously waiting for the Gadwalls to show up!
Marlin— I will have to look up gadwall. Interesting name. I looked it up and yes, they are common here. I know this duck. There is a pair that nestles every year now outside the McD.
Can hear the geese flying overhead in their typical ‘V’ pattern.. at first I heard a honk sounded like a tricycle horn . The dogs looked up and I saw a flock of geese flying towards the wetlands. Did’t get my camera in time.
In Washington we would get mallards. I always liked the green heads, very pretty. I've been seeing a lot of Canadian geese by the lake when I'm coming home from work.
Today I heard the hawks when out while mowing. We have a sorta symbiotic relationship. I mow in the pastures and scare up the voles and the hawks follow me around until they snag dinner. I used to have mallard and pekin ducks. Great bug eaters. Kept the garden as clean as a whistle barely a bug in sight. They are good ‘Watch Ducks’ , nobody entered the garden without the ducks letting me know.
Our woodpecker is back! We have a tall stump in the backyard that we intentionally left to get infested for woodpeckers. They do a good job of clearing out all sorts of bugs and larvae. Please don't ask why this is called a Red Bellied woodpecker when the red is on his head. There is a Red Headed woodpecker, and guess where his red is! An ornithologist must have stayed up all night thinking up these names.
