An interesting wood duck food item (1 Viewer)

[pbgrebe]

During this seasonal period in my locale the wood ducks here eat a food item that, offhand, you might not think they would bother with. We are currently in the season here during which the cottonwood trees disperse their seeds. Those of you who live in areas which have an abundance of cottonwood trees know what this is like. The seeds are tiny and “cottony” (akin to dandelion seeds), airborne and extremely numerous. So numerous, in fact, that during the peak seed dispersal period it literally appears as though it is “snowing” cottonwood seeds. Patches of ground and the surface of ponds and lakes can be so completely covered with these seeds that it appears as if they have accumulated coverings of snow. As for the individual seeds, there is practically nothing to them—a tiny thing engulfed in a miniscule ball of cottony fluff. They appear as though they have essentially nothing to offer nutritionally and wouldn’t be worth bothering to eat. Yet, during this period the wood ducks here (including mothers and their ducklings) spend considerable time continually snapping up cottonwood seeds from the surface of the water (I have also seen some mallards doing this). Just another example of the fact that, even a tiny individual food item that has negligible nutritional value in itself, can still furnish a decent meal when a large amount of it is eaten (and there certainly is a huge abundance of these seeds available during this period).

 

[Lisa W]

That is interesting, never would have thought those seeds would be of interest to ducks.