What kind of bird can land in a tree like a black bird, but then jump out of the tree into the water and paddle around like a duck?
We drove around the lake yesterday. The birds are all flocking like crazy, getting ready for the migration. The coolest of them were the pelicans. Such majestic birds.
However, there was another type of bird that neither Rick or I recognized. At first we thought it was a black goose because of the way it flew, with it’s head all stretched out, but in a flock they didn’t form the V formation.
Then we saw them all gathering it a big, dead tree in the lake. I’ve never seen a goose in a tree before so we definitely ruled out goose. There was one that was all alone, WAY up high.
But THEN some of them jumped out of the tree and started paddling around like a duck!
Also, several of them would stand up really tall, with their wings spread.
Unfortunately I didn’t have my Canon with me. All we had was Rick’s cell phone, so we couldn’t get any closer or clearer shots.
They were black, and Rick says they had a yellow beak, but I couldn’t see that far. I did get an impression that there might be a brown band around the neck.
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15 Answers
I saw a Nature show about those ducks. As your article notes, they NEST in tree cavities. These guys aren’t nesting. They’re perched on the branches.
And these birds weren’t distinctly colored like those ducks. They were black.
Mmm. How could they perch in trees with webbed feet? Although your link does say that they do….” Unlike most waterfowl, Wood Ducks perch and nest in trees and are comfortable flying through woods.”
Hm. We’re going to head to the lake again. I’ll have my Canon with the zoom lens at the ready!
I don’t know why, but the first thought that came to my head was “Cormorant.” I don’t even know why since I don’t really even know what a cormorant is, besides a bird.
Guess I’ll go find out…
Didn’t look anything like that @syz, but good guess.
Guess what though….I’d bet a buck that they WERE cormorants. This page. Looking at the pictures on the right, that is exactly what we saw!
^Not sure why you say they didn’t look anything like that -it’s exactly the same bird as in your link.
Because of that long, fanned tail, and long, sharp beak. Well, it wasn’t THAT kind of cormorant.
Your second picture was spot on.
Yep, and they did sit lower in the water.
I guess they CAN grip the branches, even though their feet are webbed.
Wood ducks. “A showy American duck (Aix sponsa) which nests in tree cavities and the males of which have a large crest and iridescent plumage varied with green, purple, black, white, and chestnut.”
-from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.
Looked like cormorants to me.
They’re cormorants. Final answer! I’d just never seen one before. Neither has Rick.
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