At My Window
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At midnight, I happened to glance out and saw a moon so vivid, so palpable that I wanted to reach out and touch it, suspended it seemed just outside my window, in an inky blackness relieved only by a few pinprick stars. When the illusion passed, I did the next best thing, grabbing my camera instead.
I shot this waning gibbous moon at 12:01 am on March 31, 2013. Defined as convex at both edges, a “gibbous” moon occurs for several days between the full and half moons. When it appears before the full moon, it is “waxing;” when it comes after, it is “waning.” For more moon lore, see the superbly illustrated Moon Phases Calendar, and Wikipedia’s detailed Lunar phase page.
This photo is unremarkable as moon images go. My satisfaction comes from having taking it with an amateur camera, handheld and braced only against the window frame. Post camera, I enlarged it and sharpened it in my photo editor.
See related post: Crescent Moon*. Click image to enlarge it, and browser’s back arrow to close. Comments are welcome.
During the first half of March, I witnessed a greater-than-usual number of migrating ducks here on the southern end of the pond, starting with small groups of Common Merganser and Hooded Merganser, followed, in order, by flocks of Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, and the regal Ring-necked Duck. All were diving ducks. For a bird-watcher, it was a feast, culminating on March 13th and 14th with peak overlap among the various species. Then the numbers declined, but slowly. As of this writing, in early April, most of the Buffleheads and quite a few Ruddy Ducks are still on the pond.
In the captions, I’ve taken liberty with the word, “flock,” for only partial flocks are shown. Rarely am I able to photograph an entire flock. Invariably, when I spot a big one — that is, big enough to plausibly contain most or all of its members present on the pond — it’s too far out on the pond for a decent photo. Only small groups do I ever see venturing close. Among those, the Buffleheads have come near most often this spring, so they dominate the slide show.
When I count distant flocks through binoculars, I remind myself that at any given moment some individuals may be under water foraging for food, others may be off exploring a remote corner of the pond, and yet others may have left to be replaced by new arrivals. By its nature, a flock remains fluid.
Occasionally, some ducks appear on the pond that keep their distance from others of their species. Some, like the Hooded Mergansers this year, come and leave in a series of small groups without ever forming a flock as we think of it. Do these exceptions reinforce the idea of a “flock” or weaken it? Perhaps the best we can say is that flocks are more coherent among some species than others, or at some times rather than others.
With those caveats in mind I’ve roughly estimated the peak flock sizes this spring as follows: Common Mergansers 12, Buffleheads 16, Ruddy Ducks 20, and Ring-necked Ducks 12. I don’t have a count for Hooded Mergansers, for the reason cited above. These are educated guesses, after weeks of watching, and may be low. After their meager showing last year, I was glad to see the Common Mergansers make a slight recovery.
In late March, I glimpsed a Wood Duck pair, but they were too far to photograph. Every spring, faithfully, they put in a brief appearance. Last year, I was lucky enough to take some photos of them perching in a nearby tree.
This past winter I was surprised to spy migrating ducks on the pond, usually just a few at time, and staying for only a few days at a time. Perhaps it was the warm winter that threw off their timetables.
A word about the photos: Ducks are sociable creatures; they enjoy the company of their own kind, and occasionally that of other waterfowl, too. This spring was no exception, ushering in a peaceable kingdom all round.
In photos 2. and 3., respectively, a Hooded Merganser drake first shows off his crest, then lowers it.
In photos 8. and 10., a small Bufflehead hen lingers among the larger Ring-necked Ducks. She’s been following them around for days. No, she hasn’t fallen for a ring-necked drake. She’s patiently waiting for bits of edible matter that the larger diving ducks bring up when they surface. All the small ducks do this (as do the gulls). Two more examples appear in photos 1. and 7.:
In photo 1., a Hooded Merganser hen waits for a Common Merganser drake to bring up some treats.
In photo 7., a Ruddy Duck drake trails a Ring-necked drake with the same reward in mind.
In photo 13., a Bufflehead hen stretches her wings. Despite its small wing size, a Bufflehead, with its rapid wing beats, can lift directly off the water, and reach flight speeds of up to 48 miles per hour. The smallest of diving ducks, it is among the fastest of waterfowl.
The photos are displayed in the order taken. The image quality is mixed, for the ducks were often far, and the lighting conditions poor in March.
Yes, the Mute Swans, the Double-crested Cormorants, and the Great Blue Herons have all returned, as well. Yes, they too are migrants, but this is their summer home; they’re not just passing through on their way to breeding areas in the north, as the ducks are doing. More importantly, they didn’t make a “splash,” this spring, as the ducks did. These are excuses, of course. The obvious reason I didn’t include them here is that this post was overly long already. I hope to remedy this omission in the future, when photos become available.
See related posts: Ring-necked Ducks, Common Mergansers*.
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In the years I’ve lived here, I’ve seen and photographed only a few Ring-necked Ducks — two pairs in 2009, and one pair in 2011. So, it was with surprise and delight that last week I witnessed a small flock, about a dozen, visiting our southern end of the pond.
A few came close enough for me to photograph. The photo here is of two pairs, the hens leading, with the drakes following in their breeding plumage (Oct-Jun). Off-season, the males are similar to the females in appearance, but with a dark head and breast.
The least observable feature of the Ring-necked Duck is the ringed neck. Cinnamon in color, it is often hard to see in the wild.
There’s no shortage of distinguishing features, however: a peaked head, a white ring around the tip of the bill, a fine white border around the male’s bill during breeding season, and a prominent “spur,” where the side joins the breast, white on the male during breeding season, and pale on the female. The male’s eyes are pale yellow, the female’s brown with a white ring.
The Ring-necked Duck is a medium-sized, North American diving duck. It’s a formidable migrant, some vagrants having been seen as far away as Central America and the British Isles.
The photo was taken on March 14, 2013 at 1:48 pm.
Note: During the first half of March this year, I witnessed more migrating ducks than usual on the pond. In another post, I hope to report more completely on this gathering most fowl, but I thought the Ring-necked Ducks deserved a special shout-out, for appearing in such numbers, and reminding us of Woody Allen’s famous dictum that, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”
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For all the investments of time, energy and money that have been made over many years to preserve and improve Hardy Pond, little is known about the water body itself.
In March 2012 there was a massive die-off of small, bluegill sunfish. At the time, someone at Windsor Village, a rental community on the eastern shore of the pond, reported a “small” fish kill to MassWildlife. As a result, the interagency task force that investigates big fish kills took no action.
Large fish kills in early spring are rare, according to MassWildlife. No testing was done at the time, so we can only speculate at to cause(s). Naturally occurring anoxia, that is, a low level of dissolved oxygen, is high on the list of possibilities, especially since only one fish species was affected, but some human involvement cannot be ruled out.
The city is now taking matters into its own hands. Under the leadership of Mayor Jeanette McCarthy, and with the support of City Councilor Edmund P. Tarallo, a program of regular testing will be initiated this spring.
The testing will be performed by Lycott Environmental, Inc., and administered by Michael Chiasson, Director of Consolidated Public Works. (His department also contracts with Lycott for the herbicide treatment every spring to combat invasive weeds in the pond.)
According to Director Chiasson, water samples will be collected from two locations “following spring melt and/or rain events, and [again] immediately following a rain event in July/August 2013.” The two rounds of samples will be tested for the following:
- Alkalinity
- Nitrogen, Ammonia (NH3)
- Nitrogen, Total Kjeldahl (TKN)
- Nitrogen, Nitrate (NO3)
- Phosphorus, Total
- Salinity
- Solids, Total Dissolved (TDS)
- Temperature
- Dissolved Oxygen
- Transparency
- MBAS (Surfactants)
- Coliform, E.Coli
- RCRA8 Total 200.7 (metals)
- Solids, Total Suspended (TSS)
I asked Mr. Chiasson about the relation of testing to public policy. If some results lie outside the normal range and are judged adverse to a healthy pond ecosystem, would Lycott identify them and suggest a policy response? He emailed back what I felt was a thoughtful answer:
Based on the results we are going to determine if we want to keep the same program for 2014 or change it up a little. Typically the results are given with what the normal parameters should be. At this time there is nothing in this project regarding what [is] to be done to restore the pond to healthy living if needed. We [first] needed to get a baseline for what is going on in the pond. I think after we have some data we can look and see where we go from here.
That is a pragmatic approach to a complex subject. I welcome it and thank him for sharing it. I look forward with interest to the first results this spring.
See related posts: Mono Lake*, Dead Fish*. Click image to enlarge it, and browser’s back arrow to close. Comments are welcome.
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The Case of the Missing Water Birds. After the big fish kill of March 2012, the many, clamorous gulls and the few, imperturbable Double-crested Cormorants all disappeared from the pond. It was eerily silent except for the geese, when they were here, and about a dozen resident mallards. Days would go by with nary a water bird in sight. I wondered if the loss of a food source were the cause. Then, after several months, the missing birds began to trickle back. That’s strange, I thought; the bluegills couldn’t have recovered this quickly; they spawn in the spring. Then it dawned on me that the birds may have been driven off by whatever poisoned the bluegills, if indeed they were poisoned. Or, perhaps it was simply the stench of the rotting fish in the water that impelled them to go.
These dead coneflowers against the snow are a favorite subject of mine. There are two species planted here, both belonging to the genus Rudbeckia. At the right end are the graceful remains of Goldenrod.
I leave the stems standing in the fall, knowing that every winter they will be arranged differently, and bring new pleasure. For scenes from past years, see Winter Garden*.
These are color photos, but the first and last could easily be mistaken for black-and-white. The white background is new snow on the pond ice. The images were captured over a five-week period in 2013, and are displayed in the order taken, with the date and time noted under each.
The second photo I shot on little notice when a late afternoon sun suddenly set the snow aglow, and threw the stems and their black ball heads into sharp relief. It shows the middle of the garden.
The third photo I took while still groggy with sleep. I had to push myself, but the effort was serendipitous. An hour later I looked out, and all the snow had melted from the stems.
See related post: Coneflowers II, Winter Garden*, Coneflowers*.
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