Reservoir Ducks II

The two freshwater ponds at the University of Aveiro are currently packed with ducks, of which many are still undergoing their annual moult. Among about 360 Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) at least 21 were carrying a nasal saddle, all of which could be read.




Also present were about nine Shovelers (Anas clypeata), one of which was marked. All of the marked ducks have previously been captured, marked and released at the Sao Jacinto dune reserve (David Rodrigues/www.pt-ducks.com).

As in the reserve, in these ponds the ducks should be relatively safe from hunting (the hunting season recently started, I believe starts September 6), but they’ll have to deal with regular disturbance by dogs and people (just as in the reserve..?).

Reservoir ducks, cormorants and a daytime bat in Matsuyama, Japan

On December 2 a few freshwater reservoirs on a hill a few kilometers north of our place in Matsuyama were visited, in the hopes of finding some new duck species. The first bird to get my attention there was an adult Cormorant (the bird on the left of the two above) that managed to catch a big Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus), a North American freshwater fish. I’m not sure whether this is a Temminck’s or a Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax capillatus/P. carbo. Its white facial patch is not as pronounced as I’d expect from a Temminck’s. The bird on the right is an immature Temminck’s.












While scoping out the cormorants’ successful catch, there was a bat foraging above the same pond. For about half an hour it appeared to be catching prey from the water surface, possibly with its hind legs, as the third photo shows. In between foraging flights it regularly perched against the side of a concrete wall adjacent to the water.










There were plenty of ducks present at two of the four reservoirs. Besides 17 Eurasian Teals Anas crecca and a single Mallard Anas platyrhynchos, I recorded 11 Common Pochards Aythya ferina, 17 Tufted Ducks Aythya fuligula, 30 Northern Shovelers Anas clypeata and (the highlight of my visit) a single Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata male.














Red-eared slider Trachemys scripta elegans. Native to the southern United States and northern Mexico, but also present in impressive numbers in all freshwaters I’ve seen in Japan thus far.




My borrowed bike.