SJ Rozan

This morning — and it was like 15 degrees and windy by the river, so I want you all to appreciate how hard I work to bring you these reports — I spotted the pair of mergansers swimming along near the seawall and three buffleheads (two males and a female) way out in open water. The mergansers apparently spotted the buffleheads the same time I did. They started swimming against the waves and the wind to get out to where the buffleheads were. I didn’t know if they just figured the buffleheads knew where to find fish, or if they wanted to chase the buffleheads out of their territory. It was a long paddle; meanwhile, the buffleheads kept diving for fish and coming up a little farther south each time, pushed by the underwater current. Finally the mergansers got to where the buffleheads had originally been and the buffleheads, from ten yards away, spotted them. The buffleheads swam directly toward the mergansers. Oho, I thought, it WAS about territory and now there’s going to be a lot of squawking and wing flapping. But no. When the buffleheads got to where the mergansers were — where they, the buffleheads, had originally been — everyone looked at each other for a moment, and then everyone dove. Apparently that was where the fish were, and the mergansers had just invited themselves over for breakfast.