How a Duck Leaves the Water Tells You What It Is
Okay, so this is the last thing I want to teach you about ducks before we move on, and honestly it might be the most useful one, because it works even when the light's bad and the bird's far away and you're squinting into the glare off the ice trying to figure out what you're even looking at.
Watch how it leaves the water.
That's it. That's the whole lesson, more or less. But let me walk you through why it matters and how to actually do it.
The two ways up
A dabbler springs straight up off the surface. No running start, no windup. One second it's floating there, the next it's airborne, like it just decided to be somewhere else. Mallards do this. Teal do this. If you've ever startled a mallard in a pond it looked almost like it bounced.
A diver can't do that. Divers are built heavier and lower in the water, with their feet set further back on their body, which is great for swimming underwater and chasing fish but terrible for a quick escape. So a diver has to paddle across the surface first, sometimes for several feet, building up speed before it can lift off. Goldeneye do this. Bufflehead do this, though bufflehead are small enough that it happens fast and you can miss it if you're not watching for it.
So if you see a duck just pop straight up into the air, you're probably looking at a dabbler. If you see one do a little running start across the water first, that's your diver.
Why this is worth learning
We spent two lessons ago on shape and behavior beating color, and this is really the same idea, just applied to one specific moment. You don't need to see the bird's head color or wing pattern. You don't even need good light. You need about two seconds of watching what it does when something spooks it, or when it just decides to go.
This is also useful because ducks flush at the worst times for identification. Someone's dog gets off leash, or a hawk goes over, and forty birds go up at once and you don't have time to check field marks on any of them. But you can watch the launch. Straight up, or running start. That's a fast read and it splits your ducks into two piles before you've even raised your binoculars all the way.
How to practice this without a duck cooperating on command
You can't make a duck fly, obviously, so here's what I'd suggest instead.
Watch for natural triggers. Other birds landing nearby, a change in wind, dogs on the trail, kids throwing rocks (please don't throw rocks at the water, but it happens). Any of these will sometimes set a few birds off, and that's your chance.
Watch the ones already a little restless. Ducks that are actively swimming toward the edge of a group, or drifting apart from the raft, are more likely to take off soon than ones sitting still in the middle. I don't know why exactly, they just seem to want more room first.
Don't chase the moment with your binoculars. This one's important. If you're fumbling to get binoculars up right as a duck launches, you'll miss the launch entirely and just catch the bird already airborne. Watch with your naked eye first. Binoculars are for after you've identified who's doing what.
The December I actually got this
There was a short-eared owl one December that came out low over the field right at dusk, hunting, and Alan and I just stood there. We weren't even trying to identify anything at that point, we were just watching it work the field, low and slow, tipping back and forth. Alan doesn't say much but he said "well" in a certain way and I knew he felt it the same as I did. We'd been married a long time by then and that was a good minute.
I bring that up here because it taught me something about watching that applies to the duck launches too. We weren't narrating. We weren't trying to name it or log it or figure out what it meant. We just watched what the bird did with its body, and that turned out to be plenty. The launch off the water is the same kind of thing, just smaller and faster. You don't need to be doing anything else while you watch it. Just watch it.
The opinion I'll stick by here
Slow down and stop talking, including me. This is one of those skills you cannot learn by having someone describe it to you in the field while it's happening, because by the time I finish the sentence the duck's already up and gone. You have to be quiet and watching before it happens, not after. I've ruined more than one good launch by trying to point it out to somebody instead of just letting them see it.
A caution, not a big one
If you're out on the ice-edge trails after a cold snap, watch your footing near the shoreline. The mud under a thin crust of ice or frost can be slicker than it looks, and Utah County dry air fools you into thinking everything's frozen solid when it isn't always. Nothing dramatic, just don't be looking through binoculars while you're also walking near the edge.
Before next time
Next time you're near open water, whether it's on our walk or just running an errand past the pond, watch for one launch. Straight up or running start. That's all I want you to notice.