Gadwalls are well-known for stealing food (kleptoparasitism) from American Coots . They eat the same kinds of food (submerged aquatic vegetation), Gadwalls are almost a third bigger than coots and the two species often feed together in mixed flocks so being the bullies on the block, Gadwalls can’t resist taking advantage of the situation.
Some of these images are out of sequence as I tried to pick the best shots from several sequences to demonstrate the behaviors.
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I’d never seen the behavior until a few years ago when I was photographing a variety of waterfowl at Farmington Bay on Christmas Eve day. The early morning air was very cold and this Gadwall was covered with water droplets that would immediately freeze to ice. The feathers on the top of its head were soaked and frozen stiff.
1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
This particular Gadwall had the art of stealing food from coots down to a science. It would relentlessly follow very closely behind the coot waiting for it to dive for food.
1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
In fact the bill of the duck was sometimes touching the rump of the coot when it dived.
1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
Here the coot is just submerging. The water was fairly deep but the Gadwall seemed to know pretty accurately where the coot would come up. It would wait patiently on the surface…
1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
for the coot to pop back up with food. Here the coot is just breaking the surface of the water as it emerges and the next frame…
1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
shows the coot on top but still covered with a sheet of water. This time it didn’t come up with food.
1/500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
Often the coot would attempt to swallow the food with its head underwater before the duck moved in but the Gadwall was always there in a heartbeat to take advantage. Often I didn’t know which bird actually ended up swallowing the food.
I was surprised at how nonchalant both birds were in this situation. There was no frantic fighting over the food and each bird was relatively calm as they competed for breakfast. Sometimes the coot was able to swallow the food before the Gadwall snatched it away and sometimes it wasn’t but neither bird got too excited about it.
I wish I hadn’t deleted the few shots I was able to get that showed the food on the surface but this happened before I was blogging and since those images weren’t of very good quality I trashed them.
Live and learn…
Ron
I guess it’s an example of survival of the fittest and/or evolution happening!
Thank you all for your comments. Today “life” got in the way of me responding individually like I should (and want to). Apologies.
Dan – your comment about the American Wigeon was very interesting for me. I had no idea they did the same thing with coots.
Elephant’s Child – “fascination” as a noun works well for me. I like it!
wonderful story and great info! Thanks!
I am always fascinated at how blase many birds are at being bullied by others. And size frequently counts for less than feistiness. Corellas and Crimson Rosellas are fairly small birds but frequently bully the bigger cockatoos and galahs off the feeder.
Love those photos too – the water and the ice are amazing, and the bird behaviour a fascination (and if that isn’t a noun it should be).
Very interesting. It seems to me like the Gadwall could expend less energy going after food if it just searched in shallower water… Unless, of course, what it needs/wants doesn’t grow in shallow water.
Boy oh boy! This world sure is full of bullies and thieves! That Gadwall, with his spiked “hair”, even looks like a bully…maybe an eagle will get HIM just as he snatches food from that poor coot! Like eating like…both ate thieves..
Amereican Wigeon do the same. Here in our area (Eugene, OR) I have watched this same encounter many times and have both still photos and videos of these interactions. Male American Wigeon seems slightly more agressive about stealing from coots, but females certainly do their share of this as well. Coots seem to mostly tolerate this behavviot. Several times I have watched wigeon approach Pied-billed Grebes. As the widgeon gets close, the grebes alwys dive and swim underwater some distance before resurfacing.
Beautiful photos, as always.
Dan
I’ve, once again, never seen anything like this. Amazing shots. And once again a great learning experience. Thanks, as always, Ron.
Amazing behavioral shots Ron! Thanks for sharing!
Charlotte