Know Your Neighbours: Feathery Paddlers
December 2002 - January 2003
This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD
by Bryan Nichols
The time has come for this column to take a look at birds. To watch them. To be a birdwatcher. We've looked at everything from worms, to stars, to history, but somehow avoided what is perhaps the most popular form of life. Feathered lizards or not, people love birds, and it's time to give the people what they want.
WHAT'S A BIRD?
Birds are poems, pets, joyous singers and good luck omens. Birds are tricksters, predators, screeching scavengers and harbingers of doom. They can be wise, melodious, talkative, tasty and splendidly colorful. To most of us, birds are the most familiar form of life on the planet - even more familiar than our own class, Mammalia.
So what are they? Taxonomically, birds are vertebrates and all belong to Class Aves. They are perhaps the easiest animals to identify as a group because birds have feathers. All of them. And nothing else does. Beyond that, though, birds evolved to fly and flying severely restricts what form your body can take. Though there are far more species of birds than reptiles or mammals, there isn't the same wacky variety. After all, a mammal could be a shrew, a blue whale, a bat or even you - but a bird is, well - a bird.
Of course birds don't all look like warblers, and not all of them fly anymore. Unfortunately, some of the most impressive ones are extinct - huge, fast and terrifying birds like the giant moas of New Zealand evolved in various places, but were either unlucky or couldn't compete with placental mammals. Ah well, there are still many orders and families and genera left, from hummingbirds to ostriches. We can't cover them all in one checklist, but we'll look first at the ones that are perhaps dearest to a paddler's heart, and nearest to our boats the waterfowl. These birds have long been favorites - their beauty has inspired art for millennia, from cave paintings to wooden decoys. And their taste has inspired great chefs for at least as long.
Yes, waterfowl are also dearest to a hunter's heart, and the Pacific Northwest has a long history and prehistory of hunting them from small boats. Many of the species on this checklist were taken by ancient paddlers, with nets strung across bays or with clubs and bows, long before wetlands became endangered and Ducks became Unlimited. Whether you appreciate geese and ducks with your eyes, your stomach, or both, you have to appreciate paddling with them. These big, floating birds share the surface with us, moving as we do at the edge of two worlds. We can only envy their ability to move into those worlds, some diving to remarkable depths, and all lifting off into the sky.
SOME ORDER
Waterfowl is a vague term usually taken to mean "game" birds that live on the water. "Game" is a vague term usually taken to mean "animals we like to shoot and eat, or shoot and stuff." Of course, not all of us are interested in shooting, stuffing, or even eating game birds (a little too gamey tasting for me, thanks), but it does behoove us to have a better idea what they are. This checklist includes three Orders of birds.
Gaviiformes (loons) are big, heavy birds with powerful legs that allow them to hunt fish at considerable depths.
Podicipediforms (grebes) are smaller but also good divers and fish eaters. The name means rump foot, an apt name for their webbed legs placed way back on their body.
Anseriformes (ducks, geese & swans) are the familiar birds of park and pond, much loved by those with bread or shotguns. Families within this order include tree ducks, surface feeding ducks and diving ducks.
As sea kayakers, I don't expect many of you will be either feeding or shooting waterfowl, at least not while sea kayaking. Photography is surprisingly difficult as well—you pretty much need a big, expensive telephoto lens and fast film, as most of these species are shy (remember all that hunting). But with this checklist, a field guide, and a pair of decent binoculars you can certainly search out these birds as they cruise nearby, using their feet as their paddles. Winter is by far the best time to see most of them on the ocean as many abandon icy lakes for the coast.
FURTHER READING BOOK REVIEW Waterfowl: An Identification Guide to the Ducks, Geese and Swans of the World Steve Madge, Hilary Burn (Illustrator), Roger Tory Peterson Houghton Mifflin, 1992 (Paperback reprint of 1988 book) 298p, $32.50 usd ISBN: 0395467268 Nearly everybody has a bird guide of some sort - Audubon, Peterson, Golden & Sibley are all popular. But if you're really interested in birds that float, then you should consider this book, a true, detailed field guide to all 154 species of ducks, geese and swans of the world. Author Steve Madge is an English birdwatcher, writer and guide who travelled the world tracking down waterfowl. Fellow Brit Hilary Burn is a zoologist turned highly respected artist who does scenic paintings as well as illustrating numerous guides. The paperback version is a solid but packable 23 x 15cm. At the beginning is a section on how to use the book as well as tips on field observation. The color plates sit across from global range maps in the first section of the book. The text makes up the second half. Each bird's text includes information on names, identification, voice, a description, measurements, variation, habits, habitat, distribution, population estimates (now dated) and references. This is a field guide, pure and simple. The wealth of information inside all relates to field identification. If you're interested in waterfowl anywhere in the world, you'll appreciate this book, even from an armchair. However, it will really be helpful in your pack, your car or your boat. |
Checklist 29 - Waterfowl
COMMON LOON Gavia immer What could be more northern, more Canadian, than a loon? Beaver fans notwithstanding, the large, low profile of a loon on the water, accompanied by that haunting cry - that's the essence of northern wilderness for many. Loons have heavy bones and powerful feet that allow them to dive extremely well - they've been reported close to 200 meters down. The compromise is the obvious difficulty they have lifting off the water for flight. Pacific, yellow-billed and red-throated loons are also occasionally seen wintering in coastal waters. |
WESTERN GREBE Aechmophorus occidentalis Western grebes are very cool looking birds .Sometimes described as swanlike, their slender necks might look stately to us, but a fish would see blazing red eyes and a wickedly pointed bill on the end of that cobra like neck. Many of them winter near Vancouver so kayakers often see them. |
HORNED GREBE Podiceps auritus These tiny looking grebes are common in the winter, usually alone or in pairs. They sit low in the water, abruptly disappearing with a nifty upward lunge and forward dive. Occasionally one will surface close to your boat and immediately duck under again. |
CANADA GOOSE Branta canadensis Nothing illustrates the saying "familiarity breeds contempt" for me better than Canada geese. Some books wax poetic about them, and they should be impressive - they're big and intelligent for a bird. But thanks to all the "lawn" habitat we've created it can seem like they're everywhere and unless you're the sort who likes to throw Wonderbread into ponds, they can come across as irritable, filthy and annoying. All is not lost though, as the sight and sound of the wilder ones migrating in those impressive V formations is still inspiring. |
SURF SCOTER Melanitta perspicillata Ruggedly ugly, hefty dark ducks with thick beaks, scoters are surprisingly adept at diving and prying shellfish off the bottom and have been the subject of considerable interest by government and industry researchers lately. Paddlers near shellfish leases might see large, low nets over the bottom meant to keep them out. Large groups of scoters can be seen all along the coast in winter - listen for their squeaky wings when they take off. A field guide will also show you the considerably less abundant white winged and black scoters. |
HARLEQUIN DUCK Histrionicus histrionicus It's hard to imagine these ducks are considered threatened when you paddle around the Gulf Islands. They visit rapidly moving streams in the summer to breed, though the splendid looking males leave town shortly after eggs are laid, heading back to rocky inter tidal habitats on the coast. There they hang out in groups, molting into more drab feathers for the winter. |
OLDSQUAW Clangula hyemalis A fascinating arctic duck that visits us for the winter. It looks interesting - males are adorned with white heads and two very long tail feathers. It sounds interesting - a repertoire including a distinct three note cry (a-ha-na) that earned them numerous common (old wife, granny hound) and scientific names (Latin for "noisy winter duck"). And it has interesting skills, not least of which is the ability to dive sixty meters deep for invertebrate food - well past safe scuba depth. |
BUFFLEHEAD Bucephala albeola If you're fond of cute wildlife, you'll appreciate the bufflehead. Named for its big, (not quite) buffalo-sized head, is has striking white and black markings that bring to mind a little sailboat. Though it's good at fishing, unlike heavier ducks it can take off with an instant burst of power. It tends to be less social than its relatives, floating about alone or in very small groups. |
COMMON GOLDENEYE Bucephala clangula As you can see by the genus, goldeneyes and buffleheads are closely related. Common goldeneyes are widely distributed - Barrow's ( B. islandica) are usually found near Vancouver. When out paddling in winter, look for big headed birds in large "rafts." Like scoters, the goldeneyes squeak rhythmically when then fly. |
WOOD DUCK Aix sponsa This is the lone "surface feeding" duck on my list - the family is familiar in ponds of course. Our ancestors found wood ducks so outrageously beautiful they nearly wiped them out - which would be more ironic if it didn't happen so often. It's not just a wooden decoy anymore though - wary populations are increasing so keep your binoculars peeled. |
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER Mergus serrator Beautiful and deadly looking, mergansers are sleek birds with wicked looking bills, serrated for holding slippery fish. They are excellent swimmers and even hunt in feathery gangs (or whatever a group of cooperatively hunting birds is called). Kayakers see them on rivers as well as in tide rips - watch them fly as well, for they are the world's fastest bird in level flight and have been clocked at over 160 km/hr. |
HOODED MERGANSER Lophodytes cucullatus The males of these cool looking little mergansers have barred sides and an odd, feathery white crest they can raise into an impressive round shape. Watch closely as they take off and land, as the crest will go up and down, changing the apparent size of their head dramatically. |
© Biologist Bryan Nichols is a reluctant birder, perhaps because birds are so popular now and he's the rebellious type. He does admit, though, that mergansers are very cool - and what paddler can resist buffleheads?
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