Waterfowl in the Spring (1953)

[Music] not so many years ago it was lawful to shoot waterfall in the spring now spring shooting is illegal but every Autumn 2 Americans crouch in the rushes with loaded guns and thrill to the Magnificent sport of duck and goose hunting although spring shooting with guns is no longer allowed more and more duck Hunters are learning that it is great sport to shoot ducks with a camera or to hide in the rushes and just watch the malards or teal or blue bills come barging into decoys undisturbed by gunfire among the most common of our water fowl are the scullt generally called Blue bills or broadbills scof are diving ducks they feed in deep water and make a real dive for their food instead of just tipping up in shallow water as a malard or teal does the canvas back is the largest and handsomest of the diving ducks but the most amusing is the chesty little Ruddy Duck in the spring the male Ruddy is everlastingly showing off before his tiny bride whose eggs are larger than a canvas PS another chesty fellow is the Drake shoveler his figure is not too good but in the spring his coloring is beautiful while watching Ducks you may see a pi build greed he can get underwater in a hurry or if he wants to settle into a school of minnows and grab one off for lunch he can submerge very [Music] slowly the largest and most spectacular grebs are the Western grebs whose courtship consists in part of a rhythmic knotting of black capped heads and a pining of the feathers on the back in the spring the Drake pin tail is a mighty fine looking fellow even finer looking than during the hunting season for now he is wearing his wedding Garb or as the bird men call it his nupal pluming now he has the long tail feathers from which he gets his name perhaps twice a day he is joined by the hen pin tail who leaves her nest to get food and water while she feeds the Drake keeps alert for possible danger his head held high by his long neck when she has finished feeding and has pred her feathers and he is satisfied that all is safe they both fall asleep in the Sun a drake Mard swims quickly by and then a pretty little greenwing teal comes along the fellow with a white crescent on his cheek is a blue wi teal he jealous guards his grab little mate against the attentions of any other male during the nesting season the males do a good deal of fighting and the head bobbing means watch your step Bud two redheads go by and the Drake slows up to scratch his head then they swim in and take a good look at Mr and Mrs bluewing when they have fed a bit the Drake red head flies off over the marsh and the Hand heads for her nest on an island before she really settles down on her nest she turns the eggs with her [Music] [Applause] feet people have a notion that ducks always nest in rushes over water diving ducks usually do but even redhe heads and canvas backs sometimes Nest on dry land though always close to water on the other hand surface feeding ducks like malards and teal and pin tails will Nest far from water here high up on the sunbaked ball-headed Prairie is a pin Tail's Nest while under a bit of Sage Brush half a mile from water is the nest of a gadwell when ducklings hatch they often have a long and dangerous Overland Journey before they reach the relative safety of the nearest water Marsh Hawks do not molest water fowl too often often but a male marshhawk is likely to make a pass at you or anyone else who comes close to where his mate is [Music] nesting if you come too close the female will rise screaming from her [Music] nest and then in defense of unhatched eggs or fluffy youngsters she will climb swiftly on strong wings and start dive bombing in real earnest [Music] and while she Dives at you the red-winged blackbirds dive at her like fighter planes pouncing on a bomber among the largest of all our birds are these whistling swans and the still larger and much rarer trumpeter swans not so many years ago whistling swans were relatively uncommon and trumpeters almost extinct then laws were passed giving swans complete protection from gunnard today their comeback stands as a shining example of the way in which wild creatures respond to sound conservation measures among waterfall there are no better parents than Canada geese just look at the way those two battle Cruisers guard their Convoy there is something completely Majestic about these long necked Honkers something that puts the Canada goose in a class all by himself and makes him the number one prize among waterf fallers and of all the music produced by birds none is more thrilling than the Cry of the Canada goose migrating water fowl are always a stirring sight but especially stirring are the Great Waves of blue and snow geese that every spring move slowly northward through Nebraska Minnesota the dtas and Manitoba in enormous flocks they come from wintering grounds along the Gulf of Mexico bound now for nesting grounds in the Arctic they loaf along following the retreating snow and ice and seeking out those fields in which an abundance of grain was left after the fall Harvest shooting waterfall with a camera is every bit as exciting as shooting with a gun and when you are hunting with a camera it is always open season be it summer or winter Autumn or spring moreover there are no bag limits and the birds that last the longest and give the most pleasure are those you bring back on film all