>RE the discussion of a "molting" or otherwise whitened duck, I have a story
>I too would like to get a response to. Approx one month ago I was on the
>dike trail at Padilla Bay Refuge. I saw an all white diving duck in the river
>alongside the trail. I am not an expert on identification, but I know that
>mallards do not dive. This one spent most of the time under water as it
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(sorry for bringing up an old thread but I screwed up the post the first
time...)

Don't you just love poking holes in myths? Personal experience: Kelowna BC,
Oct. 28, 1989. Helen and I wasting time before we go to a buddy of mine's
wedding (sadly the couple is split now but that's another story...). Down
to the waterfront we go to see if the Tufted Duck has shown up yet. No
Tufty but right in front of us near some pilings were about 3 Mallards and
a couple of American Wigeon. The Mallards were diving just like goldeneye.
The water was clear enough to see that the birds were making it at least 25
feet down before they started back up again. We could not determine what
they were diving for but the fact that we had witnessed "diving mallards"
was enough to make our day. (Speculation mode on:) I would imagine that the
reason Mallards do not usually dive is that the effort expended to drive
their buoyant bodies underwater is more than the potential reward. The
buoyancy was obvious because they breached the surface like exploding corks
when they resurfaced. The wigeon were unable to follow the mallards'
descent despite some half-hearted attempts, which suggests that Wigeon are
even more buoyant then Mallards. There must have been an irresistible
treasure near the dock that day. Or else we ran into some ducks which had
been doing leg presses for a while....

cheers,
Jack


// Jack Bowling jack_bowling at mindlink.bc.ca //
// Prince George, BC //
// CANADA //



// Jack Bowling jack_bowling at mindlink.bc.ca //
// Prince George, BC //
// CANADA //