This morning I walked to the boat launch for the first time in several weeks. There was a lone merganser drake near the shoreline in one direction and a group of 30 or so mixed ducks in the other direction. It’s interesting to watch the ducks grouping up. They seem to act on one of two concepts: “strength in numbers” whereby predators might find a group more intimidating to attack than an individual, or “hidden in the crowd” whereby each individual is safer if there is a group from which a predator will select one prey.
As I watched the ducks, a stream of ring-billed gulls came over my shoulder. They passed me in a long steady flow, following the brook bed that empties into the lake. They flew in a tube-like formation about 20 feet above the treeline until they reached the open parking area and then the water, where they dropped to around 4-6 feet above the surface. As a group they truly flowed like water flowing into the lake until they had all gone around the far point, over a quarter mile away.
I have often seen bald eagles at this location hunting for ducks. A cousin of mine took an amazing, once in a lifetime shot of an eagle dropping down and snatching a duck that was preening at the edge of the shore. Ducks seem too heavy to lift and take back to a nest but apparently not. I will be looking for an opportunity to catch a photograph.