A Respite on a Sunny Day from the Cares of the World

Sunday was sunny but somewhat chilly as I hiked north along the Sammamish River Trail.  I was happy to be out and about, finally able to free my mind from thinking about the great coronavirus pandemic.  I was headed for the shallow seasonal pond that lies parallel to the trail, not far north of the rusty foot bridge that spans the river about a half mile north of the 90^th Street Bridge here in Redmond.

As I approached, a flock of American widgeon swooped around one end of the pond and then landed in the water, joining others that were already there.  I could then hear a steady stream of soft whistling sounds, as they began communicating with each other.  There must have been well over one hundred of them, males and females.

I soon spotted a few other waterfowl species that were sparsely represented: northern pintails, green winged teal, a few mallards and a couple of northern shovelers.  They all got along quite amicably as they foraged for food, or simply swam about.

The photo that accompanies this brief tale shows a male northern shoveler swimming between a pair of resting American widgeon and a second female widgeon in the foreground.  A male widgeon has a black head. The shoveler has what appears to be a blade of grass in its bill that it retrieved by dabbling for it underwater.

-- Photo and Story by John Reinke