Dear Tweeters:

A female wood duck dropped into our pond this morning and went right to a
corner where a young Himalaya berry vine overhangs the water. She appeared
to be picking and eating berries, though I could not actually see a berry
being taken. There are rushes also around the pond, including where the
berry vine grows.

Is she an opportunity picker, eating berries when available? Or was she
finding the spiders that guard the berries instead? Has anyone else seen
this behavior?

Darrel Whipple
Rainier, Oregon
dwhipple at columbia-center.org