I've seen mallards and shovelers dive. The mallards were going through the
molt so diving was a strategy to get away from danger (i.e. me and the
other bander). The shovelers were feeding on something in shallow water,
because I saw them doing it in the same place at the same time of year for
two years.
It is fun to watch!
Chris
On Sat, Sep 4, 2021 at 7:09 PM Dan Gleason <dan-gleason@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Canada Geese will also sometimes dive, even chicks that hatched only a
short time before. But it’s more fun to watch them somersault repeatedly on
the water. If you’ve not seen this it can look a bit strange at first. They
plunge the head in first then flip the entire body over to follow. Not a
sideways roll but a full forward somersault. Then, it’s usually repeated,
often several times over the next few minutes. Not always sure what they
have accomplished by this but it’s sure fun to watch. It’s not a feeding
strategy. It’s a way of bathing and perhaps it helps relieve some
irritation or helps with feather parasite removal. There are times it
simply looks like play.
Dan Gleason
Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited of Eugene
Ornithology Instructor, retired, University of Oregon
dan-gleason@xxxxxxxxxxx
(Please forgive my typos. I beat leukemia but the intense chemo was very,
very hard on my eyes.)
On Sep 4, 2021, at 6:51 PM, larspernorgren <larspernorgren@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Someone reported Gadwalls plungediving at Baskett Slough in the summer
about 10 years ago. I recall Mallards eating fish on two occasions. All
puddle ducks dive when wounded and pursued, Baldpates staying under for at
least 20 seconds. My former babysitter once hunted pheasants on islands in
the Snake near Ontario and observed multiple wounded pheasants dive to
avoid capture. Birds are the consummate athlete, accomplishing a host of
feats no other vertebrate could dream of.
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: David Smith <davidhsmith255@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 9/4/21 6:30 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: roy.loweiii@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: OBOL <OBOL@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, snelson4242@xxxxxxxxx,
dan-gleason@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [obol] Re: Mallards diving?
I have also seen gadwalls doing this. It was a group of 5-6 and they were
all doing it repeatedly.
On Sat, Sep 4, 2021 at 6:12 PM Roy Lowe <roy.loweiii@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I’ve have observed gadwall diving at Crystal Springs. Interesting to
watch these buoyant birds try to stay submerged in the shallow water.
Roy Lowe
Waldport, OR
On Sep 4, 2021, at 2:33 PM, Sally Nelson <snelson4242@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
When I was a student at college in Ashland in my undergrad years
(1959-1963) I would often drive to the upper pond in Lithia park and watch
the ducks--mostly mallards--along with reading my assignments between class
sessions.
I often saw mallards dive fully under the shallow water and swim around
as fast as possible after the colorful fish that then were common in the
pond--and swallowing any they caught. Pairs of mallards were often seen
walking around the pond area in spring. The males trailed resignedly along
after the females searching for the exactly right nesting spot.
I can't recall now if only hens fished or drakes as well. I wasn't even a
birder then, but it is a perfectly clear memory, and one I have never seen
elsewhere.
Sally Nelson; birding since 1970 ~2 miles west of Creswell, OR
On Sat, Sep 4, 2021 at 1:55 PM Dan Gleason <dan-gleason@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
It’a nor a frequent behavior but Mallards do sometimes dive completely
underwater. I’ve seen this only a few times and it is usually not a
repeated behavior. Often it is a way to escape an unwanted situation such
as a female trying to avoid an overly aggressive male. They are known to
sometimes submerge to get food just out of reach by dabbling. It would be
unusual for multiple birds to be doing this at the same time and unusual to
do this more than once or twice.
Dan Gleason
Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited of Eugene
Ornithology Instructor, retired, University of Oregon
dan-gleason@xxxxxxxxxxx
(Please forgive my typos. I beat leukemia but the intense chemo was
very, very hard on my eyes.)
On Sep 4, 2021, at 1:29 PM, Ren Elias Britton <reneliasbritton@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
saw several female or immature Mallards diving fully underwater, instead of
This morning at the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Portland I
just dabbling. I haven't seen this behavior before (actually, I didn't know
they could swim underwater) and was curious how many other people had seen
this happen? I'm reasonably confident that I correctly identified the
birds; it's possible that they weren't Mallards, but I don't think they
were a species of diving duck.
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