Bufflehead Duck

It's a balmy minus 3 outside. The golf course is under frost delay. The air is still and the ground is frosty and stiff.  Ice rinks are developing out of the irrigation ponds and the morning sunrise has stained the sky for the last hour. It's a gorgeous Winter morning and a terrific day to spend inside writing blogs and staring out onto the frozen landscape. Last week, two friendly female members inside the kiosk inquired about the "ducks or birds" at the #3 irrigation pond. Unfortunately, I didn't know what "duck bird" they were speaking of. I was armed with the knowledge they were black and white and had short necks.  I've been piecing it together over the last week.  Fortunately, Superintendent Jason had snapped a photograph of them and uncovered the mystery for me.

It seems the Bufflehead Duck or Spirit Duck (Bucephala albeola) was paying Quilchena a visit over the last week.  These small migratory American sea ducks range in size from 13-16" long and 9.5-19 oz. The male ducks, or drakes, are larger than the female ducks with an average size of 14" long and a weight of 13 oz.  The attractive drakes have shiny green and purple feathers with white patches as contrast on the head and the body. From a distance these male ducks look black and white. The female duck is a more dowdy grey-brown with an oval white patch on the cheek. The name Bufflehead, breaking down into "buffalo" "head", refers to the oddly large balloon-shaped heads of these ducks, .

Bufflehead Ducks forage for submerged vegetation in shallow, open waters, which may be why they are so attracted to the irrigation ponds throughout the golf course.  These ducks have vigorous appetites though. They dive for aquatic crustaceans, mollusks and invertebrates. In freshwater, they eat flies, larvae, zooplankton, clams and snails. In saltwater, they consume shrimp, crabs, snails, mussels, herring eggs, ratfishes, etc. Hungry little guys!

The interesting fact about this species of duck is they live in tandem with the Northern Flicker bird. They migrate in close proximity to these woodpeckers because they nest in the tree cavities that have been carved out by them. In fact, their bodies have evolved their small size to fit into the small nesting cavities of these birds. This relationship of dependency is referred to as metabiotic. The last few weeks I have been noticing small flocks of the Northern Flicker birds foraging for insects on the ground around the golf course and it has seemed to be perfectly timed to the appearance of the Bufflehead Duck.

Bufflehead ducks may not have roamed the Earth as long as Buffalo. But, there is recorded history that they have been around for at least 500,000 years.  And, there was a fossil found in California that resembles a bufflehead that dates back to two million years ago.  That's one  huge Family tree!  Sadly though, these birds are at risk due to hunting and forestry.  In order to preserve their legacy, Naturalist suggest installing Northern Flicker sized bird boxes for them to nest in. Not only are these ducks ancient, beautiful, buoyant, hungry and resourceful. They also adorn the Coat of Arms for the coastal town of Syney, B.C. Many reasons to protect these precious ducks.

Snow Geese

Okay, I recognize Snow Geese can be a bit of a hot topic in Richmond.  These infamous birds travel in large groups for long distances and inevitably arrive hungry.  Richmond is one of their layovers along the way. The flocks land on large areas of green space and even people's lawns to feed on grains and seed.  As you can imagine Snow Geese are especially detrimental to golf course's because the entire economy of a golf course is dependent on having beautiful pastural green space.  Some of the biggest opponents to these feathery pests are Superintendents, Jason and Josh. You very well may have been startled by the sound of Jason or Josh shooting off starter pistols to detract the snow geese from landing on the turf. They are very vigilant at protecting the course. Not the most calming noise though when you're attempting a particularly tricky golf shot but necessary in keeping the greens pristine.

Since no story is one sided, I wanted to learn a bit more about the Snow Geese.  I don't think anyone can argue how impressive the visual of a massive flock of brilliant white birds flying harmoniously through the grey Lower Mainland sky's can be.  The contrast of colours is beautiful and the the sound and scale of birds is outrageous.  It's truly a natural phenomenon at it's grandest and I can't help but stop what I'm doing and stare into the sky when they pass. Okay, you got my attention geese....now what do you have to say for yourself?

It seems that Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) say a lot and loudly.  There calls can be heard as far as a mile away, sometimes further. The snow geese that travel through Richmond are a flock of Lesser Snow Geese.  The Lesser Snow Geese stand 25-31" high and weigh between 4-6 pounds.   They are the smallest of the two subspecies of Snow Geese.  The specific flock that fly's over Quilchena is called Fraser-Skagit and has numbers of 50,000-100,000.

This flock starts its journey at it's nesting place in Wrangel Island, which is an island just below Helsinki, Finland and above Estonia. I suppose this massive commute across some of the most expansive pieces of land is a true testimony to the quality of the grass here (insert joke here). They arrive in October and populate areas around the Fraser River and the Skagit River Estuary in Washington state, hence the name the Fraser-Skagit flock.  Fortunately for Richmond land owners, they do depart to their Northern home in April.

Much like other birds, Snow Geese seem to be quite loyal.  They return to the place they were hatched to breed and they have the same partner for life.  Each year, the populations of these Snow Geese keep increasing.  So, it's safe to say, you'll be seeing more of these white feathery friends.