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Diving G-w Teals???



At Cowans Ford WR yesterday, a friend and I witnessed something neither of
us had ever seen before.  We were observing a flock varying in size between
30 and 40 males & female G-w Teals - dabbling and swimming and being VERY
vocal.  After about an hour or so, we noticed that some were regularly
disappearing completely under the water with a splash, returning to the
surface after a period varying between 2 to 8 seconds.  "Knowing" <G> that
G-w Teals were dabblers - NOT divers, we first suspected that another group
of a different species had flown-in unnoticed by us (we were yakking a lot),
and was interspersed with the teals.  A few moments with the scope proved
otherwise.  These were ALL the same species: TEALS. For the brief time that
this was going on - about 12-15 minutes out of approx. 3 hours of
observation, many other birds in the flock were rising up on their legs,
flapping their wings as if to shake the water out of them.  You know...
standing on the water to get clearance for thorough wing-flapping.  You've
seen them do *this,* right?

Since the diving behavior wasn't consistent, we concluded that the diving we
were seeing was for bathing purposes - not foraging/feeding.

Has anyone else seen this behavior among teals - or any other "dabblers,"
for that matter?  Have I just missed seeing this in all of my 54 years?  Was
it a dream? <G>


Cheers!
Tomm "formerly known as Princox" Lorenzin
Mooresville (Lake Norman), NC
skytomm(at)1000plus.com or tomlo(at)microsoft.com
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The song is but half;
  head and heart inform senses--
    fulfill the hearing
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