This is Bird Note.

These rubber-ducky sounds come from a flock of American widgins,

trim brown ducks with pale blue bills and big white wing patches.

Widgins are grazers, rather than filtering food through serrated bills like other

dabbling ducks. Their bill is narrow, with a pointed tip like that of a goose.

When feeding on water plants, a whiggin grabs a leaf and rips it off with its strong bill,

rather than using the straining apparatus typical of dabbling ducks.

Whiggin's great fondness for grass brings flocks of them to graze on lawns adjacent to city lakes.

The birds become tamer through the winter,

and you can get close enough to see how they cut blades of grass, like feathered lawnmowers.

A special treat for experienced bird watchers is to spot a Eurasian whiggin grazing alongside

the others. Look carefully through the whole flock

for a duck with a reddish head and gray body,

and you just might find one.

But experienced or not,

you can learn more about widgeons,

both American and Eurasian,

on our website, birdnote.org.

For Birdnote.org. For Birdnote, I'm Michael Stein.