Winter is waterfowl season, which is a big reason I enjoy this season so much. Very fond of all ducks, swans and geese. Buffleheads are my special favorites. As winter winds down now in the maritime Pacific Northwest, it’s a good time to pay tribute to these lively and gorgeous ducks.
Winter is often grey and overcast in the Pacific Northwest. Buffleheads look black, white and grey in that weather. When the sun breaks through, the drakes glow with iridescent color. The dramatic shift in their look is just one of the lovely surprises tucked in these diminutive ducks.
One of the reasons ducks are so engaging to watch is because they are gregarious, hence interacting much of the time. Usually amongst themselves but sometimes with other waterbirds. Watching wildlife behavior is a window into their culture, lifestyle, and relationships.
It’s a happy day when Buffies arrive in late October/early November. Like most waterfowl in Washington, they are migratory. They start the season with a splash and they don’t let up all winter.
Note how it’s not just what they’re doing but their postures that make them so expressive. Tall and alert, or scrunched down bobbing and pushy, their body language speaks as eloquently as their chirps.
.
Here in their winter home, they are shifting into a very different lifestyle compared to breeding season. They’re in saltwater around the periphery of the island mostly, not in woodsy freshwater ponds as in in winter. They’re eating different prey. They’re mostly in flocks, not dispersed by nesting territories. Being in close proximity for a change releases their characteristic feisty demeanor. They’re very sociable.
Unlike their quiet summer forests, now they’re also around people more since they prefer foraging in shallow fairly calm water, often near beaches. Granted, those beaches are not nearly as popular with humans in winter, but I have no doubt the crowds of summer would be yet another reason for Buffies to depart in April. For us who do brave the chilly Salish Sea beaches, it’s Buffies all day, every day, Buffies the way down.
Never too many!
Hopefully you are fortunate enough to enjoy Buffie season too, from fall arrival to spring departure. According to Cornell, most of the country see Buffies in winter or migration, wherever there are waterways with suitable foraging opportunities. In marine waters they prefer shallow protected bays and estuaries; in fresh water they like quiet lakes, ponds and wetlands. Our Buffies migrate to nest in trees near small ponds in the Canadian forest, using old flicker holes. Buffies are our smallest ducks. Only they can squeeze into holes no larger than 2.5” wide.
Buffies stand out in a number of ways. Because they’re so small, their wings are large compared to their weight, which gives them more lift. They are nimble in their movements.
We get regular winter storms that stir up waves. While Buffies prefer it calm, they have no trouble managing rough water if that’s what’s out there. They just bob around in the waves.
🐚
Nearshore waters are popular among many waterbirds. While Buffies tend to hang out with other Buffies, they share our shallow waters with the other wintering birds amiably enough.
Buffies will pluck prey off the surface along with Mew gulls when a bonanza washes in with a storm, but usually they make shallow dives for clams, snails, crabs along the bottom. They are tidy divers, unlike mergansers, diving and emerging with very little splashing. Sometimes both kind of ducks will be foraging in the same spot and their styles are clearly different. Granted, mergansers are usually going after fish, which move faster than clams.
Even though Buffies compress their wings against their bodies to squeeze out air before diving, they’re still pretty buoyant….they pop up to the surface like a cork. You can follow their dives since they’re only down for 15-20 seconds.
🐚
Even on the island where I live, where there are many quiet bays, Buffies sometimes hang out in our freshwater lake and ponds.
Freshwater wetlands are preferred habitat for swans and dabbling ducks, but Buffies sometimes forage there in small numbers.
Wigeons have voices much like Buffies, but considerably louder. Wigeons dominate in the wetlands, like these lurking around the Trumpeter swans who yank up pond weed. Wigeons, mallards and pintails snatch up any loose bits.
.
While we’re talking about waterfowl, I’ll throw in another habitat they frequent in our area: muddy fields. Buffies are not good walkers so I don’t see them there, but other ducks, swans and geese are there in winter in vast numbers. I saw these on the Skagit River delta last month. It was the final day of hunting season; perhaps they were celebrating.
Love the sound of Snow geese! In this video they were flying from one field to another, right over Snow Goose Market (closed in winter).
🐚
The stupendous Big Sky drama of the delta flats contrasts with the small-scale world of Buffies in my local bays. In daytime they are constantly busy foraging and grooming. As I mentioned, Buffies are not comfortable walking on land. Occasionally I’ll see them standing on a floating log, but they do pretty much everything in the water. Besides foraging….
….grooming:
……mating. Buffies engage in courtship displays all winter, and will start mating in February. I rarely see it, given how quick the whole thing is.
Recently I’ve enjoyed watching the local Buffies rafting up for the night, which they always do as it starts getting dark. They begin paddling toward shore from all over the bay where they’ve been been taking care of business all day. They gather in very close quarters adjacent to the shoreline, and there’s inevitable tussling and posturing with that proximity. They probably settle down overnight but I’m not there to see. During the rafting maneuver, they don’t mind me standing nearby, nor evening walkers, nor even slow moving vehicles. If a loud fast vehicle goes by they’ll be startled into running across the surface away from shore, but they’ll swim right back.
They look very quiet, milling around by the shore in a still photo.
But a video shows how active they actually are, either grooming or scuffling. These scenes were all around 6pm recently, nearly dark. I’m amazed my camera could catch the action at all.
What’s up in your birdy world this week?