Photo by Chris Bosak
A female Wood Duck swims at Wood’s Pond in Norwalk, spring 2016.
I’ve already done two posts about the Wood Ducks I saw the other day. Here’s one more of a female Wood Duck. They are beautiful in their own right, even if the male Wood Ducks grab all the attention with their fancy plumage.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Wood Duck swims at Wood’s Pond in Norwalk, spring 2016.
The other day I posted a few photos of female Wood Ducks and their chicks. Well, here are some more — some with the chicks and some Continue reading
Here’s the latest For the Birds column, which runs weekly in The Hour (Norwalk, Conn.) and The Keene (NH) Sentinel.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Wood Duck mother swims with one of her babies at Woods Ponds in Norwalk, Conn., spring 2016.
The Mallards were scattered along the grass and I didn’t think twice about it. I’m used to Mallards being tame and not walking away, or even flinching, when someone draws near.
With many Mallards, even with babies in tow, they show little or no fear of humans. In fact, many even welcome the approach of humans as the ducks hope to get some food.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Wood Duck mother swims with two of her babies at Woods Ponds in Norwalk, Conn., spring 2016.
But in this particular flock of ducks, two females and their babies quickly retreated to the nearby pond. These ducks weren’t Mallards at all, but rather they were Wood Ducks. Two female Wood Ducks and their babies were “hanging out” with the Mallards in the grass near the pond before I pulled into the parking lot.
While the Mallards in the group, which consisted of most of the birds, did not even bother to wake up from their midday nap, the Wood Ducks’ instincts told them to retreat.
But the scene was still extremely surprising to me. First of all, you don’t always see Wood Ducks hanging out with Mallards. And, second of all, Continue reading
Photo by Chris Bosak
A Wood Duck hangs out with a flock of Mallards at Wood’s Pond in Norwalk, Dec. 2014.
Several years ago (10 maybe), during a visit to Central Park in New York City, I noticed a very tame male Wood Duck hanging out with a flock of Mallards. I’ve spent hours upon hours on remote New England ponds trying to get decent photographs of Wood Ducks and here was one acting like it was a tame Mallards. The behavior struck me as odd because Wood Ducks, in all my previous observations, are usually extremely wary.
I had pretty much forgotten about this sighting until the other day when I visited Wood’s Pond in Norwalk, Conn., a frequent haunt of mine. A lingering Great Blue Heron
(click “continue reading” for another photo of the female Wood Duck)
Birds of New England.com 