Week 15 – American Widgeon

I stopped by Ann Morrison Park in Boise last week to practice getting some in flight shots of gulls. There were more than a few people feeding the gulls, ducks, and geese at the park, which always makes me cringe. While feeding animals and birds allows you to get close to them, it also makes those animals reliant on humans for food. If they become totally reliant on people for food, and then we stop feeding them, they may end up starving and dying. So while we think we’re providing the animals a service, it can actually harm them in the long-term to be fed by people. It also decreases the animals’ fear of people, which is never a good thing. All animal and bird species should retain a healthy level of human fear. One species that did not seem to be taking the bait were several American Widgeons floating around in the water. While the Mallards readily took food directly out of peoples hands, the Widgeons maintained a healthy distance from people. Why this difference between species? Another question for my fellow birders and biologists: It sure looks like this female American Widgeon is calling doesn’t it? Actually, she wasn’t making any noise at all, she just kept opening and closing her mouth. Any thoughts from other birds folks about why she might have been doing that?

Female American Widgeon. Photograph by Neil Paprocki.

All of the previous 52-week blog posts can be found at the Wild Lens blog or on Flickr.