One among my favourite Far Aspect cartoons refers back to the chicken household talked about within the title of this submit, although solely obliquely. I’ve to confess that it took me just a few months earlier than I lastly acquired the joke.
Hokkaido is just not a foul place to see ducks- although for many of us, there isn’t a must journey to Hokkaido to see Mallards.
In a prolonged submit on geese in Japan, Mark Brazil (the chicken information creator) praises wild Mallards for being colourful, gregarious, and able to thriving in suburban and concrete environments alongside folks …
… which makes them engaging at duck ponds however creates points attributable to their capability to interbreed with associated species.
For instance, one paper experiences on a hybrid between a Mallard and a Falcated Duck in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
A Russian paper claims that there are indicators of reasonable genetic isolation between sedentary Mallards dwelling in Russian cities and migratory ones dwelling within the surrounding countryside.
Equally, not many birders will come to Hokkaido to see Widespread Coot.
Like male people, coots solely have a small vocal repertoire of simply 4 calls. The analogy doesn’t finish there – like male people, this “small vocal repertoire through the breeding season expresses advanced behavioral motivations and particular person signature”.
As with many duck species, grownup Eurasian Wigeons usually tend to be male than feminine (supply).
That is seemingly attributable to greater predation charges for feminine birds through the breeding season – amongst all wigeons assessed within the examine, 54.5% have been male.
The scientific identify Mareca penelope refers to Penelope, a Greek princess, the spouse of Ulysses. In the course of the lengthy absence of her husband on the siege of Troy, she began weaving a tapestry and promised her suitors to select one when carried out … however unraveled the day’s work each evening. Sounds a bit unfair, however in case you had seen her suitors, you’d have carried out the identical.
Penelope can be the primary identify of certainly one of my favourite artists, Penelope Houston. You may hearken to “Placing me within the Floor” or watch a full live performance right here.
Seeing the scientific identify of the Widespread Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula, I considered the horse Alexander The Nice rode on his campaigns, which was named Bucephalus. It appears Bucephala means bull-headed, which gave each the duck and the horse its identify.
In fact, in in the present day’s world, it could have been shocking if that identify (Bucephalus) weren’t for use by some tech firm. Certainly, Bucephalus (www.bucephalus.tech) “combines unparalleled intelligence, agility, and ease of use to align your strategic planning with development of long-term free money movement”. Their web site additionally provides to “Study our journey to changing into leaders in AI-powered provide and demand planning”. It appears to be an bold firm, utilizing the slogan “We clear up the world’s most advanced issues”, a branding that in some unspecified time in the future was additionally instructed for 10,000 Birds however which didn’t fairly make it by means of our last choice levels as we didn’t wish to get tasked with discovering an answer to the scenario within the Center East.
In accordance with the BTO, the Crimson-breasted Merganser might be advised by its punk-style hairdo.
The HBW wonders about this crest: “Its spectacular asymmetrical nuchal crest seems incongruous with symmetry elsewhere in nature”.
Sports activities fishers – notably these not into punk music – apparently fear that Crimson-breasted Mergansers compete with certainly one of their favourite targets, the walleye, for prey in locations resembling Lake Erie (supply). Nonetheless, the examine discovered that whereas the diets of walleye and mergansers overlapped significantly, mergansers typically consumed smaller fish than walleye.
Crimson-breasted Mergansers want to nest contained in the colonies of terns and gulls regardless of the sensation of not fairly belonging there (having lived in China for 20 years now, I do know the sensation). The reason being that these colonies provide some safety from predation, resulting in greater nesting success (supply).
Even inside these colonies, the mergansers attempt to conceal their nests, for instance by finding them in dense stands of Marram Grass (supply).
Like beer distributors at punk rock live shows, Snowy Egrets apparently profit from looking fish in affiliation with Crimson-breasted Mergansers – they catch extra prey (supply).
Sadly, the paper on this analysis solely offers some potential causes (elevated catch charge, bigger dimension of prey) for the advantages to the egrets, reasonably than a confirmed rationale. And so, reasonably predictably, the paper concludes with a name for extra analysis.
The Northern Pintail doesn’t appear to be a punk in any respect. Not for nothing, eBird calls it a sublime, slender duck.
Apparently, there’s a North American Waterfowl Administration Plan that units out an goal of 5.5 million Northern Pintails – however attributable to inhabitants declines, the present determine is simply about 1.8 million (supply).
A 2002 thesis offers an evidence – completely different from different geese, Northern Pintails prefer to nest in crop stubble habitat, which has change into extra plentiful with the elimination of fall tillage. And these nests are notably weak to predation.
In recent times, a small cottage trade of papers on the financial worth of birdwatching appears to have developed. For the Northern Pintail, such a paper means that “Summed expenditures and shopper surplus for Northern Pintail viewing have been yearly valued at $70M, and annual sport looking totaled $31M (2014 USD). Expenditures for viewing ($42M) have been greater than twice as excessive than these for looking ($18M). Estimates of shopper surplus, outlined as the quantity customers are prepared to pay above their present expenditures, have been $15M better for viewing ($28M) than for looking”.
In different phrases, barely simplified: having Northern Pintails round is like printing cash.
You may suppose that the invasion of zebra mussels into the Nice Lakes, the habitat of the Larger Scaup, is sweet information for them because it will increase their meals provide.
Sadly, the zebra mussels accumulate extra contaminants than the choice prey – and this accumulation is handed on to the Larger Scaup (supply).
The scientific identify Aythya marila presumably refers back to the again of the male (marila means coal mud).
The Black Scoter is listed as Close to Threatened regardless of its scientific identify Melanitta Americana, which ought to give MAGA fanatics a powerful incentive to guard the chicken.
Weirdly, the HBW additionally solely reveals the North American distribution of the species, solely admitting within the small print that the species additionally breeds in northern Europe and Asia. Or perhaps I mistakenly seemed this up within the Handbook of the Birds of America.
eBird paints a surprisingly unflattering image of the (in my eyes reasonably engaging) Black Scoter, calling it a “plump diving duck” and remarking on its potbellied form in flight.
The Lengthy-tailed Duck is listed as Weak.
In truth, there exists the considerably grandiose-sounding “Worldwide Single Species Motion Plan for the Conservation of the Lengthy-tailed Duck” paid for (amongst others) by the Federal Ministry for the Surroundings, Nature Conservation, Constructing and Nuclear Security of Germany.
Many Russian breeding habitats of the Lengthy-tailed Duck have been misplaced once they have been reworked into oil and fuel extraction websites as a result of ensuing disturbance and oil air pollution (supply).
It’s an arctic species is a real breeding in tundra and taiga areas across the globe – which can be indicated in its scientific identify Clangula hyemalis (hyemalis means “of winter”).
In accordance with the Nationwide Wildlife Federation, the splashy colours of the male Harlequin Duck “–seemingly assembled by a committee of first graders–are among the many showiest within the waterfowl world.”
Harlequin Duck society is matriarchal – on the coast, younger grownup females decide a male and return salmonlike with him to its natal streams to breed (supply).
Its scientific identify Histrionicus histrionicus means “like a harlequin” or “histrionic”, which the Cambridge Dictionary defines as “very emotional and energetic, however not honest or with out actual that means”.
Understanding the inhabitants improvement of Harlequin Geese requires duck surveys – nonetheless, these should not a lot enjoyable, in keeping with a biologist: “The place you might be moist from head to toe all day, day by day and the temp is floating above freezing through the spring. And it’s simply, you’re ready to crawl right into a moist sleeping bag or get again to a cabin and perhaps you will get a hearth going to warmth your self up, all within the hope that you simply discover two geese in 5 days.”
Whereas the species is listed as Least Concern, it faces a number of threats together with overhunting, disturbance, and habitat loss. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 additionally killed a lot of them, and the unfavourable results of this spill have been long-lasting (supply).
Do you have to marry younger or reasonably wait, assuming not marrying in any respect is just not an possibility? For Harlequin Geese, the equal query is whether or not to pair early within the breeding season or later. A examine discovered no apparent advantages in early pairing for feminine geese however a unfavourable influence on male geese, as they spend extra time guarding their mate.
Whereas they’re superb swimmers even in very tough waters (HBW: ” Their skill to swim and feed among the many boulders of a raging river is unmatched”), Harlequin Geese apparently have extra damaged bones than some other waterfowl species. Possibly they generally overdo the tough swimming a bit.
