Didn't know about that, Michael...thanx for the info. Great to know
people appreciate stuff like that.
I must in return relate a moaning Eiders tale: While colour-banding
shorebirds along the west shore of Hudson Bay in the spring it was a
unique experience to hear Common Eiders moaning under the ice. When
the tide would retreat great cracks would open in the 2 m. thick ice.
Eiders, apparently searching for food, would drop down into the
cracks to feed on the exposed bottom. Next came the nuptial mood and
they'd begin calling. The song is a deep ascending moan of about 2
second duration. The ice, having settled irregularily, channeled the
sound in most eerie fashion, sometimes sounding as tho it were coming
from directly underfoot. Once we had a couple of younger volunteers
helping band. We noted the hair nearly stand up on their heads when
the calling began, and perhaps to this day they wonder if it really
had been Ooanik, the God of that region, as we expained with straight
faces.