Union Bay Natural Area

Today, (May, 9th, approximately 2:00pm) I walked over to the Union Bay Natural Area at UW and every time I come to this place I am so amazed that this site used to be a dump site. The diversity of this place is so amazing. It looks to me like this site was always natural. The weather today is somewhat cloudy but sometimes the sun decides to peak out every once in a while. I'm crossing over the bridge and the birds and ducks are plenty today, I just spotted a bufflehead! Buffleheads are so distinctive, with a black and white body and head. This is the first time I have ever seen a Bufflehead in person, they are such peaceful ducks. And to my left I see a family of Mallard Ducks, the little duckings are so adorable, they follow every movement the mother does. Here at the Union Bay Natural Area, the Mallard Ducks are much more plenty, if you see a duck at any park, it will most likely be a Mallard. The male Mallard has a distinctive green head and that is one way to tell a Mallard apart from the rest of the ducks. Now, back to the Bufflehead, I'm noticing that the Bufflehead keeps diving down into the shallow water, my guess is for food. Buffleheads love insects, mollusks, and crustaceans. As for Mallard Ducks, they don't dive into the water, but do something called dabbling. Unlike the Bufflehead, the Mallard Ducks eat a wide variety of food, however, their diet is mainly seeds. What I'm still curious about is why Mallards are so plentiful around here, and when I do see the Mallard Ducks I rarely see the male duck with the mother and ducklings.

Posted on 04 June, 2012 19:14 by ballev