Checking the Marinas

[Two male Bufflehead and three female Common Goldeneye, Breezee Lee Marina in Cape May, NJ today.]

I like ducks.  Call it a flaw - they're big, obvious, slow, and, usually, easy to identify, in part because they are big, obvious and slow.  But they're also beautiful, with fascinating courtship and breeding behaviors (be sure to check out the PBS DUCKumentary, if you haven't already).

So today I went looking for them, in the channels and slips of various Cape May marinas, and in near-ocean ponds like Sunset Lake in Wildwood Crest. Red-breasted Mergansers, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Greater Scaup, Long-tailed Ducks made for a nice reward, and there was even a Eurasian Wigeon with American Wigeon in a salt marsh pond along Ocean Drive. In the non-duck department, both Red-necked and Horned Grebe could be found in Cape May Harbor. But the ducks were the show. Thank goodness, what would winter birding be without them . . .