Avian Update 2/3/2012

After the record breaking snowfall of last winter and the infamous snow storm in late October, this ‘winter that wasn’t’ is a nice break.  We’ve been able to get repairs and improvements completed that we’d otherwise never be able to do this far into winter and it seems we’ll continue to have smooth sailing for at least another week.

The warmer than usual weather has allowed me to send many of the snow and ice sensitive species housed indoors for the winter back outside for a temporary dose of the outdoors.   Whistling ducks, Freckled Ducks, and Spur-winged Geese are back outside, a first for early February!

 In another aviary, the Hawaiian Geese are preparing to nest, with the females getting ‘baggy’ with developing eggs and males becoming feistier towards human intruders. After months of fighting off the vicious male Cereopsis Goose, the attack of the male Hawaiian Goose is barely noticeable (don’t tell him).  We are very lopsided on Hawaiian Goose sexes at the moment and I hope this breeding season provides us with an excess of females to pair with our bachelor males.  More early nesting is on its way and within the next few weeks we’ll be erecting the nest boxes for cavity nesting species like Hooded Mergansers and Australian Wood Ducks.  Species of ducks that utilize tree cavities for nest sites are among the first species of ducks to nest in the early spring and will likely be even earlier this year with the unusual weather.

This week’s photo is of a pair of North American Wood Ducks, one of our most common breeding ducks in Connecticut. Most Wood Ducks begin to reappear in the spring as ice recedes in the wooded wetlands they prefer as nest sites.   This year we’ve sighted Wood Ducks throughout January, possibly because the warm weather hasn’t frozen them out of the local wetlands.   The Conservancy maintains several dozen duck boxes throughout local wetlands to encourage these beautiful ducks to nest in the vicinity.

Ian   

 

Weekly Avian Update