Nature Connection: Everything Is Just Ducky

Most of us are aware that many birds migrate in the fall. Our hummingbirds and orioles fly south, as do swallows and herons. Warblers pass through from farther north and continue on their way to southern climes. Shorebirds, such as sandpipers and plovers, begin their migrations in mid-summer and are just finishing up by the end of the month. There are always a few stragglers, but by the time winter hits our calendars, most of our migrants have passed through and are gone for another year.

What many may not realize is that many other birds migrate to our open waters each fall. These include thousands and thousands of sea ducks such as scoters, eiders, long-tailed ducks, mergansers, loons, and some grebes. It also includes the small buffleheads we see all winter long on area ponds and lakes.

Every October the ducks arrive in massive flocks, often gathering in areas such as Cape Cod Bay and Nantucket Sound. If you’ve never witnessed the huge rafts of these ducks, I highly recommend it. It’s one of those nature experiences that you will never forget.

Each year I watch for the ducks to appear. A few show up here and there, dribbling in over a week or so, but it seems the largest number of them show up overnight and one morning there they are. Often the sea is calm and glassy and all you will see are black dots in the distance. If you look through your binoculars, you will see that each dot is a duck, and if you are patient, you may see the rafts of ducks move closer to land with the tide.

These ducks are diving ducks. They eat fish, crabs, and shellfish, though each species of duck has its favorite food to hunt for. Scoters and eiders have very distinct heads and bills. Those heavy bills can crack open the shellfish they prefer, and in our area that is mussels. Cape Cod Bay is full of mussels, especially in the Sandwich area, and that is where I went this past week to look for the ducks. I was not disappointed.

As I stood on the shore the rafts of ducks spread from the canal all the way along the shore to Dennis and probably beyond. More and more ducks flew in low over the water to join the ones already there. Thousands of ducks were floating on the surface of the water as huge puffy white clouds scumbled in the sky overhead. It was a breathtaking sight.

Not all ducks make noises, including some of the scoters, but on this quiet morning I could hear the mutter and whines of many, many birds as the sounds carried over the open water. If past experience is any indication, the ducks will stay in these huge flocks for a rather short period of time before dispersing to areas all around the Cape and Islands. Some will even continue their journey farther south.

Why do the ducks come here? The open waters farther north freeze up and food becomes impossible to find. As long as our waters remain open and the food is plentiful, they will stay here. Some areas, especially around both entrances of the canal, will host hundreds and hundreds of eiders with a mix of other ducks as well. If we get a protracted cold spell that freezes the bay the birds will move into the open water and then farther south if that freezes as well.

Scoters, eiders, and other diving ducks are exceptionally well insulated against winter’s cold. Even their rugged legs and feet are designed to withstand ridiculously cold temperatures. However, frozen areas mean the ducks can’t reach their food sources and so they will move on.

We have three kinds of scoters here, though some are more common than others. Surf scoters and white winged scoters are easier to find than black scoters.

Long tailed ducks, harlequin ducks, red-breasted mergansers, goldeneyes, common and red-throated loons can also be found hanging out with scoters and eiders in mixed flocks.

Hooded mergansers and buffleheads can be found in many pond areas, but some will also be seen in bay and harbor areas that are a little more protected.

So, although the summer birds have left us, many others are just arriving. Later in the season I will write about the dabbling ducks that also spend the winter here, but that is a whole different story.

Before you go traipsing down a lonely looking beach at dawn or dusk be aware that duck hunting season has begun, and it is perfectly legal to hunt these sea ducks. You may even see decoys in some areas floating in the surf. The next few months have different hunting seasons so unless it is a Sunday, when hunting is illegal in Massachusetts, wear something orange or red so you don’t look like a duck, pheasant, turkey or deer. Put some orange on your dogs, too.