Waterfowl Tour UWNA 5/29

Weather: smoggy, warm
Time: 1:30-3:30

Today we took a tour of waterfowl around UW's Naturalist Area. The first bird we talked about was the Great blue heron. We viewed the heron flying over the Puget Sound right off of the shore. These birds nest on the main campus as well, in Heron Rockery near Drumheller Fountain. They congregate together to nest in large groups. The males and females are not sexually dimorphic. Females and males both incubate the eggs, incubation usually lasts 25 days. The baby birds will then have their first flight after a couple of weeks. Great blue herons eat fish and small amphibians, and swallow their food whole. These birds are common throughout the U.S and like to hang out near water. They have 6 foot wingspans, and like most birds the males with the longer plumage's tend to attract more mates.

The next bird we saw was the Northern Shoveler. This bird gets its name from it's shoveled shapes beak. Its beak is narrow at the base, and wider near the tip. Shovelers are dabbler feeders, meaning they filter food out from the mud with their beaks. We observed this big swimming around in a marsh looking for food.

The next waterfowl we learned about was the Buffeehead which is only around in the winter, and is currently up in Alaska hanging out. This waterfowl is the smallest duck of them all. The Bufflehead is also a dabbler feeder. These birds are sexually dimorphic because the males are brighter colored. Predators that eat the Bufflehead include owls and bald eagles.

We also learned about another type of duck called a Merganser. The most common type of this bird is the hooded merganser. They fully dive under water when they eat, and they primarily eat fish. These birds have a third membrane under their eye lids to act as goggles providing better underwater vision.

Species List:
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
Mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos)
Northern shoveler (Anas clypeata)
Great blue heron (Ardea herodias)

Posted on May 30, 2012 02:23 AM by lmcthe01