Waters full of fowl in November

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It is November and the winter storms are beginning to roll in, covering the Cascades and Siskiyous with snow. November is the time when farm ponds, lakes and marshes fill with ducks. They first appeared in late September; October saw many more arrive, but waterfowl migration is still in full swing.

The frosts of October knocked down the summer insect populations, leaving little for our summer birds to eat. Duck food, however, is plentiful, which is why waterfowl don't show the same urgency to head south. Many linger before colder weather nudges them along.

One of my favorites is the American wigeon, and their numbers are just now building up in farm ponds and golf courses around the valley. They have a pinkish-gray body and a small bluish bill with a black tip. The male has a dull-green patch extending back from the eye, and the top of the head is white. The white crown is responsible for its old name, "baldpate."

Wigeon are very social and, unlike most ducks, they are grazers. They loaf in the water, but when it comes time to feed, the herd heads for a lawn that needs a little trimming.

The wigeon look a little shabby right now. They are just coming out of their alternate molt. The "alternate molt" of birds is the molt that produces breeding plumage. Not all birds have an alternate molt. Robins and starlings, for example, forgo this expensive activity. For those that do have an alternate molt, they typically molt only those feathers that produce breeding finery. Other feathers, such as wing and tail feathers, are retained until the "basic molt" of summer when a complete set of new feathers is produced.

Fall may seem an odd time to get ready for the breeding season, but in the world of ducks it makes perfect sense. It is time to choose a mate. Much of the talk in the marsh at this time of year is not idle gabble but serious courtship. Come spring the female will follow her mate back to where he was reared. This can mean quite a change of scenery for the female. A female Wigeon hatched in Montana, for example, may end up breeding in northern British Columbia. Among birds it is common for the females to disperse. For mammals the reverse is the rule.

Mallards and wood ducks complete their alternate molt a month earlier than wigeon. Northern pintail and northern shoveler have just begun to feel the stirrings of spring and are now entering their alternate molt. In a world of drab winter birds, it is pleasing to see some bright colors.

As you check out the winter ducks, keep an eye out for an oddball among the American wigeon. It will be the one with a gray body and a brick-red head with a buffy crown. This is the Eurasian wigeon, a close relative that has come a great distance to sample our lawns, most likely from eastern Siberia. In a normal winter, about a half-dozen Eurasian wigeon are scattered among their American cousins in the valley.

Stewart Janes is a biology professor at Southern Oregon University. He can be reached at janes@sou.edu.

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