One among my favourite Far Facet cartoons refers back to the chook household talked about within the title of this submit, although solely obliquely. I’ve to confess that it took me a couple of months earlier than I lastly bought the joke.
Hokkaido shouldn’t be a nasty place to see ducks- although for many of us, there isn’t any must journey to Hokkaido to see Mallards.
In a prolonged submit on geese in Japan, Mark Brazil (the chook information writer) praises wild Mallards for being colourful, gregarious, and able to thriving in suburban and concrete environments alongside folks …
… which makes them engaging at duck ponds however creates points on account of their capability to interbreed with associated species.
For instance, one paper stories on a hybrid between a Mallard and a Falcated Duck in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
A Russian paper claims that there are indicators of average genetic isolation between sedentary Mallards dwelling in Russian cities and migratory ones dwelling within the surrounding countryside.
Equally, not many birders will come to Hokkaido to see Frequent Coot.
Like male people, coots solely have a small vocal repertoire of simply 4 calls. The analogy doesn’t finish there – like male people, this “small vocal repertoire throughout the breeding season expresses complicated behavioral motivations and particular person signature”.
As with many duck species, grownup Eurasian Wigeons usually tend to be male than feminine (supply).
That is possible on account of larger predation charges for feminine birds throughout the breeding season – amongst all wigeons assessed within the examine, 54.5% had been male.
The scientific title Mareca penelope refers to Penelope, a Greek princess, the spouse of Ulysses. In the course of the lengthy absence of her husband on the siege of Troy, she began weaving a tapestry and promised her suitors to select one when achieved … however unraveled the day’s work each night time. Sounds a bit unfair, however in case you had seen her suitors, you’d have achieved the identical.
Penelope can also be the primary title of one among my favourite artists, Penelope Houston. You’ll be able to hearken to “Placing me within the Floor” or watch a full live performance right here.
Seeing the scientific title of the Frequent Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, I considered the horse Alexander The Nice rode on his campaigns, which was named Bucephalus. It appears Bucephala means bull-headed, which gave each the duck and the horse its title.
In fact, in at the moment’s world, it might have been stunning if that title (Bucephalus) weren’t for use by some tech firm. Certainly, Bucephalus (www.bucephalus.tech) “combines unparalleled intelligence, agility, and ease of use to align your strategic planning with development of long-term free money movement”. Their web site additionally presents to “Find out about our journey to turning into leaders in AI-powered provide and demand planning”. It appears to be an formidable firm, utilizing the slogan “We resolve the world’s most complicated issues”, a branding that sooner or later was additionally steered for 10,000 Birds however which didn’t fairly make it by means of our closing choice levels as we didn’t wish to get tasked with discovering an answer to the state of affairs within the Center East.
In accordance with the BTO, the Crimson-breasted Merganser might be instructed by its punk-style hairdo.
The HBW wonders about this crest: “Its spectacular asymmetrical nuchal crest seems incongruous with symmetry elsewhere in nature”.
Sports activities fishers – notably these not into punk music – apparently fear that Crimson-breasted Mergansers compete with one among their favourite targets, the walleye, for prey in locations equivalent to Lake Erie (supply). Nevertheless, the examine discovered that whereas the diets of walleye and mergansers overlapped significantly, mergansers usually consumed smaller fish than walleye.
Crimson-breasted Mergansers choose to nest contained in the colonies of terns and gulls regardless of the sensation of not fairly belonging there (having lived in China for 20 years now, I do know the sensation). The reason being that these colonies supply some safety from predation, resulting in larger nesting success (supply).
Even inside these colonies, the mergansers attempt to conceal their nests, for instance by finding them in dense stands of Marram Grass (supply).
Like beer distributors at punk rock concert events, Snowy Egrets apparently profit from searching fish in affiliation with Crimson-breasted Mergansers – they catch extra prey (supply).
Sadly, the paper on this analysis solely offers some potential causes (elevated catch fee, bigger measurement of prey) for the advantages to the egrets, quite than a confirmed rationale. And so, quite predictably, the paper concludes with a name for extra analysis.
The Northern Pintail doesn’t appear to be a punk in any respect. Not for nothing, eBird calls it a sublime, slender duck.
Apparently, there’s a North American Waterfowl Administration Plan that units out an goal of 5.5 million Northern Pintails – however on account of inhabitants declines, the present determine is simply about 1.8 million (supply).
A 2002 thesis offers a proof – completely different from different geese, Northern Pintails wish to nest in crop stubble habitat, which has grow to be extra plentiful with the elimination of fall tillage. And these nests are notably weak to predation.
In recent times, a small cottage trade of papers on the financial worth of birdwatching appears to have developed. For the Northern Pintail, such a paper means that “Summed expenditures and shopper surplus for Northern Pintail viewing had been yearly valued at $70M, and annual sport searching totaled $31M (2014 USD). Expenditures for viewing ($42M) had been greater than twice as excessive than these for searching ($18M). Estimates of shopper surplus, outlined as the quantity shoppers are keen to pay above their present expenditures, had been $15M higher for viewing ($28M) than for searching”.
In different phrases, barely simplified: having Northern Pintails round is like printing cash.
You may assume that the invasion of zebra mussels into the Nice Lakes, the habitat of the Larger Scaup, is nice information for them because it will increase their meals provide.
Sadly, the zebra mussels accumulate extra contaminants than the choice prey – and this accumulation is handed on to the Larger Scaup (supply).
The scientific title Aythya marila presumably refers back to the again of the male (marila means coal mud).
The Black Scoter is listed as Close to Threatened regardless of its scientific title Melanitta Americana, which ought to give MAGA fans a robust incentive to guard the chook.
Weirdly, the HBW additionally solely exhibits the North American distribution of the species, solely admitting within the small print that the species additionally breeds in northern Europe and Asia. Or possibly I mistakenly regarded this up within the Handbook of the Birds of America.
eBird paints a surprisingly unflattering image of the (in my eyes quite engaging) Black Scoter, calling it a “plump diving duck” and remarking on its potbellied form in flight.
The Lengthy-tailed Duck is listed as Susceptible.
The truth is, there exists the considerably grandiose-sounding “Worldwide Single Species Motion Plan for the Conservation of the Lengthy-tailed Duck” paid for (amongst others) by the Federal Ministry for the Setting, Nature Conservation, Constructing and Nuclear Security of Germany.
Many Russian breeding habitats of the Lengthy-tailed Duck had been misplaced once they had been reworked into oil and fuel extraction websites because of the ensuing disturbance and oil air pollution (supply).
It’s an arctic species is a real breeding in tundra and taiga areas across the globe – which can also be indicated in its scientific title Clangula hyemalis (hyemalis means “of winter”).
In accordance with the Nationwide Wildlife Federation, the splashy colours of the male Harlequin Duck “–seemingly assembled by a committee of first graders–are among the many showiest within the waterfowl world.”
Harlequin Duck society is matriarchal – on the coast, younger grownup females choose a male and return salmonlike with him to its natal streams to breed (supply).
Its scientific title Histrionicus histrionicus means “like a harlequin” or “histrionic”, which the Cambridge Dictionary defines as “very emotional and energetic, however not honest or with out actual which means”.
Understanding the inhabitants growth of Harlequin Geese requires duck surveys – nonetheless, these aren’t a lot enjoyable, based on a biologist: “The place you might be moist from head to toe all day, day by day and the temp is floating above freezing throughout the spring. And it’s simply, you’re ready to crawl right into a moist sleeping bag or get again to a cabin and possibly you will get a fireplace going to warmth your self up, all within the hope that you simply discover two geese in 5 days.”
Whereas the species is listed as Least Concern, it faces a number of threats together with overhunting, disturbance, and habitat loss. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 additionally killed lots of them, and the destructive results of this spill had been long-lasting (supply).
Must you marry younger or quite wait, assuming not marrying in any respect shouldn’t be an possibility? For Harlequin Geese, the equal query is whether or not to pair early within the breeding season or later. A examine discovered no apparent advantages in early pairing for feminine geese however a destructive affect on male geese, as they spend extra time guarding their mate.
Whereas they’re superb swimmers even in very tough waters (HBW: ” Their capacity to swim and feed among the many boulders of a raging river is unmatched”), Harlequin Geese apparently have extra damaged bones than some other waterfowl species. Possibly they generally overdo the tough swimming a bit.
