Mini Migrant Ducks

     On March 31, I saw a flock of 15 handsome bufflehead ducks on the Susquehanna River and a loose gathering of 24 pretty green-winged teal on an inches-deep farm pond in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  That is about the same number of green-wings I've seen on the pond at this time of the year in the last few years.  They're probably the same individuals that have migrated through this area every spring, and some of their most recent descendants.
     Every late March and into early April, I see at least a few little flocks of these smallest of ducks in North America migrate through this county, as they do across much of North America.  Some groups of buffleheads rest and feed on the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers and certain, human-made impoundments.   But other gatherings of them put down to loaf and ingest food on farm ponds as well.  Migrant teal refresh in shallow wetlands and flooded fields, and on farm ponds where they occasionally overlap with buffleheads.
     Buffleheads and green-wings have characteristics in common.  Both kinds are about ten inches long, attractive and fly swiftly in small, compact groups.  Both are energetic, have interesting courtship displays and nest mainly in northwestern North America.  Females of both species are camouflaged, which allows them to blend into their surroundings, which is of greatest value when they are hatching eggs and caring for their young.
     Buffleheads are the smallest of diving ducks.  The attractive drakes are dark on top, with white flanks, chests and cheeks.  Their mates are dark gray with a small white patch on each cheek.
     Buffleheads dive under water from the surface to the bottom to eat amphipods, aquatic insects, snails, small fish, water vegetation and other edibles.  They frequent brackish and fresh water in winter, but fresh water only in summer when raising ducklings.     
     Each female bufflehead lays a clutch of about a dozen eggs in a tree cavity or nest box erected especially for this species along rivers and lakes in forests.  The newly-hatched ducklings climb up the inside of the hollow and jump out the entgrance to the water or ground below.  Unharmed, the young follow their mother to a wetland or pond to feed on invertebrates.
     Green-winged teal are the smallest of puddle or dabbling ducks that "tip-up", with their tails pointed toward the sky, to shovel seeds and water vegetation with their spoon-like bills from the shallows of ponds, wetlands and flooded fields.  Males are dark above, with gray flanks and warm-brown heads, with a green stripe around and swept back from each eye.  Female teal are brown and dappled for camouflage.  Both genders have an iridescent, green speculum on each wing that makes them a little more colorful.
     Green-wings nest on the ground under clumps of tall grass that conceal the eggs.  Mother teal lead their young to wetlands choked with emergent plants where the ducklings feed on invertebrates and seeds.       
     Buffleheads and green-wings are cute, little ducks that pass through Lancaster County every spring.  These migrants are well worth watching for on a variety of waters.