??Hi all, Yesterday I was on Oswego River, like all looking for the Harlequin Duck, which was seen easily but I had more fun with other ducks, because Harlequin spent most of the time hidden away from us.
There was a big chunk of ice at the back of the viewing platform. A female Greater Scaup decided to take a nap on it. So she conveniently walked on to the ice chunk and fell asleep, though her fellow ducks were on the opposite bank. After about half an hour or so the chunk of ice broke from its mooring and initially started floating slowly down the river. Duck was still sleeping. I was watching to see what it will do. After the ice floated about a few meters, the water on the ice started rising and the water reached the duck's belly. At this point the surprised female opened her eyes and looked around. Hastily she started walking off the ice. At one point she stumbled and fell on the ice. She quickly got up and continued walking and finally walked off the ice and swam out into the river before the ice hit the rapids and broke into two. I got the whole incidence on video. It was hilarious to me, but poor duck I think it was not happy of being disturbed from its sleep. It was also fun watch the ducks, especially the Long-tailed ducks and Buffleheads landing on the water. Long-tailed Ducks had to reduce their impact of landing by hitting with their belly and breast on the water. Some could arrest their movement with just two hits while others had to hit several times. Then they would float down the stream facing the up river till they ducked into the water. It was well worth a return drive of 3 and half hours! As a bonus it was a very sunny and beautiful day! Cheers Meena Meena Haribal Ithaca NY 14850 42.429007,-76.47111 http://www.haribal.org/ http://meenaharibal.blogspot.com/ Ithaca area moths: https://plus.google.com/118047473426099383469/posts Dragonfly book sample pages: http://www.haribal.org/dragonflies/samplebook.pdf -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
