Following up from my behavioral observations yesterday, on Long Island, Wildwood Lake, Northern Shovelers foraging close to Pied-billed Grebes. I found some information on this foraging ecology from the Enclycopia of Life. "The shovelers are drawn to feeding areas by other birds feeding in an area. Shovelers take advantage of the food particles churned to the surface by the other birds swimming or wading in the area. Single birds may swim in a tight circle to create a whirlpool to cause food to come to the surface. (Gooders and Boyer, 1986, Johnsgard, 1969, Todd, 1979)" Perhaps the grebes, and 3 Ring-necked Ducks, combined with the Shovelers circular/figure eight patterns, caused upwelling of some food, because I doubt the active presence of water boatman and other inverts this time of year. Peter Priolo Center Moriches --
NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
