Thursday, June 24, 2021
On a day of high winds, almost constant rain, and cloud that hung down to sea level, I cut short my usual round of beach, salt-marsh, and dunes, and returned to the car park. Walking a little way across the cliffs in the other direction, I scanned Achnahaird Bay and spotted two red-throated divers. I had turned to go back when a distant cluster of dark dots caught my eye; they resolved through bins into probable common scoters, five males and a female; although definite ID only came by snapping off a picture and viewing it zoomed-in on the camera.
They seem a bit late. Perhaps they're Scottish breeding birds; the BWP gives the egg-laying period as late May to late June, so they've still got time to get to their breeding grounds and make a start.
This is only one small group, but as is often the case there's a high ratio of drakes to ducks. The RSPB website on mallards states that breeding is stressful for ducks, with the drakes usually deserting after egg-laying. An American water-fowling website (ducks.org) talks of the rigours (for mallards) of nesting, brood-rearing, and moulting alone, meaning that the female is less likely to survive than the male. In BWP's account for common scoter, it's said that the male "usually deserts a few days after the start of incubation".
Hmm. There's me admiring the beauty of these handsome drakes - and it seems they're just a bunch of rotters after all!
// posted by Christine @ 11:41 AM 
