Greetings, Today at 4:45pm I visited Wildwood Lake, Riverhead, in mid-Suffolk County. This is a double kettle lake formed by the last glacial activity and the depth is deeper than most in Suffolk. In this deep area in the western waters of the pond, I observed 2 pair of Northern Shoveler foraging but not in a dabbling technique. They were paddling in figure eight patterns in a staggered formation with their necks and bills parallel with the horizontal surface of the water, skimming with their bills. Their bills and necks were barely submerged, their yellow eyes very visible. They were like a truck plowing snow leaving a small wake behind. I imagine they were skimming some freshwater phyto/zoo plankton but am not sure what options they would have considering the water temperature. However, the nutrients from the bottom of the lake may "turn over" and surface during this time of year because there is less of a thermocline to the water column, this would allow for vertical transport of nutrients. If anyone could comment further on this I would be grateful for more speculation or knowledge. In addition to this wonderful sight, there was a tight group of 5 Pied-billed Grebes 10m behind the shovelers, and ~60 Ring-necked Ducks 100m from the Shovelers. I also reported a banded Canada Goose in Riverhead with a USFWS aluminum band, number of band viewed by scope, to USGS today to discover that it was banded before fledging in Hampton Bays (<20 miles away) this past season, female. There were 12 other banded geese in the flock foraging grass in front of the Riverhead County Center. I was only able to read in full one band, but I noticed some geese had bands that seemed more weathered and had different "font" on the bands. Peter PrioloCenter Moriches --
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