Rouge - May 22

[Shortsighted]

I decided to return to this area of the Rouge this morning even though there was not much action yesterday, if for no other reason than to hopefully get more photos of a Blue-winged teal. I was also still interested in capturing some shots of flycatchers. Well, this morning the only flycatchers were swallows, mostly Tree and Bank. Once again, the Tree swallows would use the tree stumps and broken trunks to rest between sweeping forays. For some reason the Bank swallows only rested on dead wood sticking out of the water, while the Tree swallows rested on dead wood near the water but on land. I was just about to call it quits when a female Hooded merganser flew in and landed on the other side of the flooded area. It proceeded to come close, occasionally diving, when a BW teal arrived and chased it back to the other side. The teal was alone and also on the other side. Why is everything always on the other side? I decided to stay a while and see if either bird would come my way. That plan was completely defeated when two groups of Canada geese arrived. They immediately began bickering and even fighting, locking beak-to-beak with a rival. The racket was too much for the merganser and teal and therefore they both left the scene and so did I.

[Ally]

Beak to beak? No proof?

[Shortsighted]

It never occurred to me to take a video of the altercation. Besides, I can't edit,manage video clips so I wouldn't know what to do with one had I shot the fight, one bill trying to devour the opposing bill. Never seen this behavior before.