March 30, 2018
Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
This was a day of chilly sunbreaks.
Late afternoon.
Tide was still pretty high, but ebbing.
While the buffleheads and scoters paddled around way out in the bay, a pair of Harlequin ducks and several Red-breasted Mergansers were chillin on the rocks at water’s edge.
Not in feeding mode. Either standing on a rock or bobbing in the shallow waves.
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Grooming intermittently, or just perched there looking out at the bay.
These are all diving ducks, with legs attached near the back so they stand tipped somewhat upright.
Many Harlequins migrate inland up into the mountains to breed near fast-moving streams. Not a long distance migration. Many, who aren’t breeding, stay around all summer, but almost always around outer rocks. This pair is likely to depart sometime in May.
These Red-breasted Mergansers will be gone by the end of April, maybe a few stragglers into May. They have much farther to fly, their breeding grounds in Alaska and northern Canada. The ones with a mascara look are first year males, who won’t breed this year, and the others are females. No adult males in this group.
They might be keeping an eye on the river otter that was hunting offshore and brought a crab onto Otter Rock a few minutes later. None of these ducks budged while Otter worked on the crab.
or they might be watching the other ducks out in the bay.
or maybe just enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.
Some were snoozing.
Ducks chillin on the rocks.
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That’s the action from my neighborhood.
What’s happening in nature where you live?
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Thursday morning: Poured rain all day yesterday. Still raining this morning, with more to come, gale winds forecast for Saturday. That calm golden evening with mellow ducks feels like a long time ago...