Although dabbling ducks normally only dabble, they are opportunistic and = will occassionally dive for their food. Because they are not well adapted = for diving, they are only able to go a foot or so below the surface of the = water. Back in 1967, I observed a great many Blue-winged teal diving for = food on a wetland in Lac qui Parle County. An article about this was = published in The Loon. There was also another observation of teal diving = published in The Loon the same year.
John Schladweiler New Ulm >>> "Ronus J" <[email protected]> Wednesday, August 10, 2005 >>> At a lake in northern Minnesota, we watched a female Mallard diving and=20 eating clams. She was in about two feet of water and after diving down = would=20 come back up with a clam in her mouth. When she swallowed, the clam=20 protruded from her neck as it went down. She consume eight clams in 15=20 minutes. I was surprised at this behavior as I thought Mallards were=20 simply dabblers. Only one of my guidebooks (Smithsonian) noted that = Mallards=20 sometimes eat mollusks and dive. Sharon K. Minneapolis _______________________________________________ mnbird mailing list [email protected]=20 http://www.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird
