What makes one lake good for ducks and one not? (1 Viewer)

Sorry long title, I have a blog post due to go live tomorrow (Tuesday 27th May) where I was thinking about why my local patch lake is so poor for water fowl where as other lakes have much more (it's all hypotheses and I have no real answer) so I thought I would ask on here what people think?

A little back ground, I watch a little lake in Milton Keynes (Lodge Lake), and there are plenty of Mallard, quite a few Canada Geese (6 to 8 pairs I think), a pair of Mute Swan, 3 pairs (I think) of Great Crested Grebe a pair (at least) of Little Grebe and loads of Coot and Moorhen, but that is it. Tufted duck are a scarce visitor, Greylag geese rarer still (fly by's usually) and other ducks are real mega's.

I just wonder why some waters hold loads of varied species while others have very little.

Over here you would have Aythya nyroca as well Nice little ducks, easily recognizable wing pattern, lovers of small water bodies.

I think basically rare species demand special perks: water this high in this part and that high in other part of lake, changing in such and such pattern throughout the spring, reeds distributed in certain pattern, some climate patterns particular to that area etc. You can see the same thing in gulls/terns and herons. The other week I was reading the results of a decade of data on breeding gulls/terns in my country. Most of breeding pairs were either Larus ridibundus or Chlidonias hybrida. All heronries had Grey Heron, then comes N.nycticorax in a much smaller number of sites, then A.purpurea, then others really rarely. E.garzetta have a good time lingering around our city riverbanks in breeding seasons, but without actual breeding.

I wouldn't mind if things like tufted duck, Pochard, Gadwall were rare but on other local lakes they are very common (especially in winter).

Hello Ashley,

I am unfamiliar with old world ducks, but here in New York's Central Park, mallards, mute swans and Canada Geese, favor the Park's Lake. Diving ducks prefer Turtle Pond, the Pool and the Reservoir, which are all rather deeper than the Lake. So I would guess that the depth of your lake may be of some consequence. Occasionally, our mergansers and buffleheads do visit the Lake, but not often. Dabbling ducks, like the mallards turn up on all those bodies of water.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood hi:

The main issues are food, shelter and disturbance I think.

I watch a small, only 50 cm deep pond with a lot of shelter which cannot be approached too closely. I've seen quite a few species, but the most important are Mallard (up to 100 in winter), Teal (up to 80 in spring), Gadwall (up to 20 in autumn) and Greylag Goose (up to 50 in the surrounding fields). All other species are less predictable, although most dabbling ducks tend to occur for some weeks in spring (no Garganey this year). Goosander only fly over and I am still waiting for my first Great Crested Grebe (Little Grebe tends to breed). Canada Goose has bred (but I guess a fox has eaten the entire family), and usually Greylags do too (none this year). The pond is muddy and contains mostly algae and frogs.
In a slightly deeper and bigger pond nearby, Pochard and Mute Swan breed. Goosander and Great Crested Grebe occur more regularly. I guess this pond has more aquatic vegetation and fish.
Finally, there is a "retention basin" in town which is quite large and (almost) always has Mallard hybrids, Tufted Duck and Great Crested Grebe. Any other duck is a bit of an event though. On three sides, there is heavy disturbance by anglers. It must have fish and mussels.
A bit further afield, there are reservoirs which are really large and quite deep. These are good for most diving ducks and even hold sea ducks regularly. They must be full of mussels.
There are no suitable ponds for Red-crested Pochard in the area: these require stonewort, which does not occur in every pond.

Thanks everyone. I'm still not sure, as I know there are plenty of water snails and mussles (as I've seen evidence at the side of the lake), it just seems odd that the ducks are missing so often.

Could be that some of the species are adverse to others. You mention the swans, for example. In NY the mute swans are considered invasive, aggressive, and a nuisance. I would not be surprised if a pair kept a lot of other species from viewing the lake as attractive.