Gooseville, WI
A duck-tailed dabbler. Mallard drake Anas platyrhynchos
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place for the community to note any observations they have made of the natural world around them. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns of the outdoors that are quietly unfolding around us.
Unlike diving ducks, the dabbling ducks naturally invite blatant, buoyant butt jokes. Tipping or dipping forward to feed on aquatic vegetation, crustaceans and invertebrates dabblers deliver the perfect punchline.
Members of the genus Anas, dabblers include mallards, teals, gadwalls, wigeons, pintails and shovelers.
Dabblers have large wings relative to body weight and fly slowly, which enables them to drop down onto small areas with precision. Divers, on the other hand, have small wings relative to body weight and fly faster, but must remain in open water with sufficient runway space because they lack the ability to land on a dime and must run along the water surface to become airborne.
I love watching the dabblers explode upward, springing off the water into flight. The divers can't do that.
Northern Shovelers
Mallards
The dabblers don't mate for life. They choose new mates each season. Spreads the genes around, I'd say.
Honey, do these genes make my butt look fat?
You're welcome to dabble around in this bucket. What's happening in your neighborhood? Got bird-butts?
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" will be posted every Saturday at 1pm and Wednesday at 3:30 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.