On March 16, I saw hooded mergansers on Sugar Creek, which is outside of Troy. I knew before long we would be seeing many species of ducks.

All waterfowl migrate. It is believed that most waterfowl return to mate and raise their young in the same area where they were raised, however many ducks that winter in the Southern United States will pair up on the wintering grounds before the northward migration begins.

Instead of flying northward to the areas where they were hatched, these males will accompany the female to where she was born to raise their young. This type of migration is known as an abmigration, a migration that is peculiar to certain male ducks.

Even though paired up in the south before the migration north, the male and female will still go through mating rituals here in the north, even after copulation. This helps to maintain the pair’s bonding.

In the mallard’s mating display, the male will draw his head and tail up, stretch folded wings, exposing iridescent blue wing patches and then turn his head toward the female. The female stretches low over the water, and the male swims with short bursts of speed, while at the same time looking away from the female.

The female also performs an incitement display in which she provokes the male to attack any other pursuing males. This inciting display is performed by turning her head over her shoulder, while uttering a peculiar nagging sound.

Among waterfowl the nest building is usually done by the female. The male occasionally helps but rarely does he do most of the work. Waterfowl do not carry nesting materials in their bills but simply reach out and pick up or pluck materials from around the nest building sites. During the egg-laying period, the nests of most waterfowl are left unattended when the female leaves to eat.

However before leaving the nest, she usually covers her eggs with down, which is plucked from her lower breast, to help keep the eggs warm. Incubation will not start until the last egg is laid, which allows all young to hatch at the same time. After the young hatch, the female will stay on the nest for one day. During this one day, the young will become imprinted on the female and will recognize and follow her.

In most duck species, it is only the female that cares for the young. During the incubation period, the male usually leaves. At this time, his molt begins, losing his bright colors of the breeding season and going into his eclipse plumage of more somber colors. The females usually do not start their molt until after the nesting season is over. At the height of this molt, both males and females lose their flight feathers, which causes their inability to fly for a few weeks (or until new flight feathers are grown).

Meanwhile they escape their enemies by swimming away, hiding among the marshes or by diving below the surface of the water. It is after this eclipse molt that the male sometimes leaves the female’s area and returns to the spot where he was hatched.

In the United States ducks, geese and swans are known as waterfowl, however, in Great Britain, they are known as wildfowl. One way to study birds is by banding and releasing. Waterfowl have been studied in this manner more than any other group of birds.

Here are some interesting facts discovered from the banding of waterfowl

• there are 36 species of ducks

• seven species of geese and two species of swans that migrate

• the pintail, green-winged teal and the blue-winged teal have the longest migration of any North American waterfowl

• during migration, ducks and geese can travel 40-60 mph

• the early migrates are the buffleheads, the golden eyes, mallards and pintails

Once full migration begins the late starters, such as the brants, blue-winged teals, shovelers, gadwalls and ruddy ducks travel fast enough to overtake the early migrators. Most ducks migrate at night and continue their flight into the early morning, while geese are prone to migrate both day and night.

During the spring migration, I observe a larger variety of waterfowl species than I do during the fall migration. While migrating north, waterfowl stop and feed on the many ponds in our area. In the fall, migration is usually faster, with fewer stops, unless the weather forces the waterfowl to land and wait for more favorable conditions.

The following is a diary entry for March 8, 2025:

“During the night, we had a snow squall, and in the morning, while sweeping snow off my sidewalks, I heard and saw flock after flock of large formations of geese winging north. As one flock disappeared another flock soon appeared. To me the honking of the Canada goose is the true ‘Call of the Wild.'”

Bill Bower is a retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Officer. Read his blog and listen to his podcasts on the outdoors at www.onemaningreen.com.