March 30, 2008 - Waterfowl Waves

Welcome to the Nature Notebook.

Almost like clockwork, as soon as lakes, rivers and ponds have open water, ducks and geese appear. They don’t all arrive at once, but rather come north in waves. As day length increases, waterfowl become restless and anxious to migrate north to their breeding grounds. Ice-covered waters prevent their northward progress. Spring storms also hold them back. Congregations of waterfowl swell at times like this. Some flocks make short hops while others are content to wait for better conditions. Then within a day or two, they seem to vanish as they push north, leaving behind stragglers and those waterfowl that will stay to breed here in Pennsylvania. We will not see the migrants again until fall when they reverse direction as they travel south to their wintering sites.

This is PPL's naturalist, Jon Beam, with the Nature Notebook for WVIA.