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Saturday, February 8, 2020

Wood Duck

Erika and I found a pair of Wood Ducks in the pond at McLane Lake near Olympia on 5 Feburary 2020. The female busily pulled down from her belly while the male napped. Hens do line their nests with down feathers, but she did not appear to be collecting the down. Perhaps she was bareing her brood patch. Her behavior may have just been an example of feather maintenance. The drake seemed to pay little attention, although he did lean away as the hen ruffled her feathers and flapped her wings at the end of this sequence.

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