Jacquelyn, I saw the same thing at Lake Sammamish SP. The Bufflehead were
flying around the beach area this morning.

I posit that this this is maybe a mixture of male
competitiveness/territoriality, and perhaps an element of Zugunruhe, which
is a beautiful German compound word to describe migratory restlessness:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugunruhe

Thank you for giving me the chance to use this word in conversation. :)
Nadine
Issaquah-Renton

On Sat, May 16, 2020 at 1:13 PM Jacquelyn Miller <jcmiller31 at gmail.com>
wrote:


> I recently witnessed two male bufflelheads flying in large circles at

> Round Lake at Tiger Mountain and wondered if someone might know why. My

> husband and I watched them for about fifteen minutes, but they had begun

> their flying before we arrived and continued after we left, so we don't

> know how long they flew in what looked to be a race between the two of

> them. They did touch down in the water several times, but immediately

> continued their flight. They also changed directions a couple of times.

> There were also a couple of females on the lake at the time of the males

> flight. We often see bufflelhead on many of the lakes and ponds in the

> Issaquah area, but I have rarely seen one even fly, let alone behave in

> this way.

>

> Thanks for any help in understanding this phenomenon,

>

> Jacquelyn Miller

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