[obol] Alsea Bay Marina

[Cindy Ashy]

Alsea Bay Marina

First, there is an odd duck hanging out. At first glance I thought it was a
female mallard but it is much too large to be a wild bird and there's more
white on it than there should be....I've ruled out pigment mutation on a wild
bird because of size too. I think it may be a wild mallard x domestic duck,
probably a pekin (donald duck variety)...or maybe a domestic mallard x pekin
escapee. I do think it is a female from the plummage and there's no drake
feather. The quality is not good but I've posted a pic of it:
www.oregoncoastfun.com/birds/odd-duck-alsea-marina.jpg I know that domestic
ducks other than the muscovy were derived from mallards in China over a
millenium ago but I can't seem to find any more details than this on the
net...it's obvious why they were bred for larger size but was it intentional to
select for total white plummage?

There's a Common Loon missing about half of its lower beak. It was diving for
food and seem to be coming up with something but having a lot of trouble
swallowing. I hope it makes it...and I've been trying to figure out what could
have happened to its beak. Does anyone know how long it will take to regrow
half the lower mandible? The bird did look well-preened so it has either
figured out how to preen with its 3/4 beak or it happened recently.

There were several Hooded Mergansers, male and female, in units of two or
three....looking chic. Lots of gulls but no glaucous. Oodles of Surf Scoters
and Bufflehead. The funest birds to watch were a pair of Common Golden Eye
ducks...they would swim around together for a while with the male leading but
the female still seemed pretty undecided about the pairing and would keep going
off in another direction without the male noticing at first but then he would
circle around and chase after her. Are we in very early mating season?

Cindy Ashy


 
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