Wildlife in a Suburban Stream

Friday 2/13/09- It was a mild and overcast day. I was walking home from school on an iron bridge over Long Branch. I noticed that below me were three pairs of Mallards wading and skimming the sooty bottom for daces and macro invertebrates. There were three males with their distinctive dark glossy green heads, brown chests, dark blue wing tips, and yellow bills, as well as three dull brown colored females with their deep orange bills. They were all very timid and restless. The closer you got to them, the further away they’ll swim from you. Some waddled up to the bank exposing their red orange webbed feet. They all made nervous, muffled quacks, probably as a signal to keep their distance.
The ducks had good reason to be anxious, for there were four Turkey Vultures soaring overhead in the canopy, probably in search of nearby carrion. They couldn’t sit still. A few would continuously swoop down to perch on the Tulip poplar and Red Oak branches. They certainly stood out among many objects in the forest, with their prominent bald red heads, ivory colored beaks with large nostrils, dark brow plumage, scaly stork-like legs, and broad wing spans. All of this activity scared off the timid Mallards, causing them to take off and flee downstream leaving behind a trail of splashes and ripples in the creek.
By Paul, Senior