In response to a surprising number of inquiries, we’re happy to report that the male Wood Ducks that we’ve been monitoring in a nearby marsh pond are alive and making great progress. They’re still going through their vulnerable summer molt (“eclipse”) and continue to be shabby and shy. However, it looks like they might have their full feathered bike-racing helmets and the rest of their colorful costumes back on before October.
In the early morning, they occasionally get up their collective nerve and play Three-Musketeers-on-Parade in open water, as you can see they did above on September 17. However, more often, we just get a glimpse of one of them along the pond edge, as he senses us and paddles quickly toward a hiding place in the cat tails:
(Brooklin, Maine)