Redheads

I had a text from my birder friend Gerry who sighted two redhead ducks on the small pond the park - a rare visit in the local sense, but not totally unexpected as migration follows its familiar pattern.

Migration happens in stages over time, it's not a single long trip. Migrating birds will stop on any stretch of usable water to feeds and rest.

Our pond under ordinary winter conditions may not be an ideal stopover, but during this period of extraordinary cold open water becomes scarce. The bubblers running in both ponds have kept them from icing over and making them more attractive as a stopover point.

Both of the redheads were males. During migration birds are sorting out pair bonds or moving ahead of females and small male groups are common.

During migration seasons our quiet ponds are part of a massive seasonal movement. We may see a few representatives of this torrent of birds when conditions align to make the park one link in a much longer journey.

UPDATE

They were still around the next day and putt on a diving display.