A while back there was an observation posted about pairs of Wigeon being fed
by Coots.

At Green Lake last Saturday I observed something similar, but it involved a
single pair of GADWALL (one male and one female) . The Coot would dive and
come up with some milfoil. It would then drop it on the surface of the
water, and the pair of Gadwall would end up with most of the food. This
happened over and over again, and the Coot didn't seem to mind. The Gadwall
didn't seem to be doing anything special -- no head bobbing or other obvious
display -- and also didn't seem to be actively stealing the food.



Joe Barsugli (joeb at atmos.washington.edu)