Duck, duck, goose!

Goldeneye ducklings

DUCK!            Several years ago we had a couple of goldeneye ducklings waddle down our driveway. We were both excited and surprised to see them because we have never seen adult goldeneyes around. They had lost their mama but were determinedly on their way to find water! I did some reading about them and discovered a couple of reasons why they may have been on their own. It is not unusual for goldeneyes to lay their eggs in another duck's nest or even another bird's nest. I wonder if that may be what happened to our little guys, although I have doubts that eggs laid in a strange bird's nest would actually hatch or if the ducklings would survive the other bird's surprise at finding them there. They most likely just got separated from mama during their journey to the lake. Their nest may have been as much as a kilometer away from water and 13 meters up in a tree! I can't help but think the poor little guys would have a hard time keeping up to mama and their fellow ducklings if they had such a long way to go.

Female Goldeneye

Male Goldeneye 

DUCK!                  We have always said that the loons are the first water birds back in the spring but we seem to have been wrong. The ice is out early this year and our loon pair has yet to appear. Instead we have several pair of goldeneyes to watch. They were here as soon as there was a bit of open water to swim in. They have obviously always been around because we saw young ones two springs ago but we have never seen the adults. They seem to be quite shy so maybe that's why they haven't been around when the loons were here. We know the loons can be quite territorial, chasing mergansers away so they will have all the fish to themselves. Goldeneyes are not fish ducks but perhaps the loons have kept the goldeneyes away just the same.

Click here for more common goldeneye info and to hear their call. Just imagine this is what a guy had to do to attract a girl's attention :)



GOOSE!            Those of you in milder climates probably don't get excited when you see Canada geese fly over as they are a bit of a nuisance. In Northern Ontario we feel a bit differently. Geese flying north mean spring is really on its way. It has been a very early spring and we've seen flocks of geese flying north since the end of March. Abby is quite fascinated by them and talks about them all the time. She'll say "geese" and honk her nose ever since we first saw them. For a while it was the last thing she talked about before she went to bed at night. They fly quite high above our house so it was quite exciting when she got to see some up close when we were in North Bay this week.