• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Observer

Stories of West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle

  • Home
  • Sightline Stories
    • Solar in Jefferson County
    • Remembering Hartstown
  • COVID-19 Local Coverage

Primary Sidebar

Latest Stories

Shepherdstown Farmers Market Open for the Winter

January 16, 2021

CATF Shares Highlights of New Theater Online

January 16, 2021

Seeing & Hearing The Signs of New Beginnings

January 12, 2021

Coming Together to Talk Politics

January 4, 2021

Civics and Civility for Students

January 4, 2021

The Eastern Panhandle Transit Authority Rides Out The Pandemic

January 4, 2021

Talking Across Time & Space

January 4, 2021

Pancake Revisited

January 4, 2021

Reading Programs for All Ages at the Shepherdstown Library

January 4, 2021

Shade’s Farm Offers Local Honey Products & More

January 4, 2021

Bushel & Peck Receives Grant to Expand Operations

January 4, 2021

The Pandemic is Here & Now

December 22, 2020

In Print

Swan Pond Attracts Wintering Waterfowl

April 17, 2019

Last week my wife and I watched seven species of ducks and numerous Canada geese at Swan Pond, a historic district in Berkeley County.

A sign beside Route 45 says: “1.5 miles north is Swan Pond Manor, a 2,000-acre retreat set aside in 1745 for use of Thomas Lord Fairfax, once the proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia who established an estate at Greenway Court, Frederick County in 1738. So named because wild swans inhabited [the] site.”

Probably the first land to be surveyed here, Swan Pond has weathered many changes since 1745. Swan Pond’s location in “The Northern Neck of Virginia” is now West Virginia. Lord Fairfax’s seat, Greenway Court, is still in Virginia, but is now in Clarke County because Frederick County was divided. Instead of several ponds, only one remains.

Despite subdivisions and property transfers, much of this land remains agricultural and has historic buildings. It retains some of the richest soils in the county, some of which contain deposits of marl—a rich loam derived from limestone. And the stream that drains the pond still eventually disappears underground into “Swan Pond Sink Hole.”  

And instead of swans, there are wild ducks and geese.

Forage and Plunder

The afternoon of February 8, Swan Pond hosted a roiling mass of hungry waterfowl. Ice-free water and rising temperatures that day made it a feeding hot spot. When I set up the scope beside the road, it offered an opportunity to compare the ways ducks and geese obtain their food.

Canada geese are sturdy walkers that prefer to graze on land. But when choice food is available in the water, they swim boldly and buoyantly with characteristic watchful confidence. This day, they swam shoulder to shoulder, dipping long, black necks into the water. In deeper water they tipped up their white bottoms in order to reach submerged water plants.  

Among the geese swam smaller diving ducks: ring necked, redhead, and canvasback. These ducks cruised low in the water, their tails barely clearing the surface. Diving smoothly, breaking the surface headfirst with barely a ripple, they swam down to pluck vegetation and other pond life from the bottom.

Baldpates, gadwalls, mallards, and black ducks patrolled the shallows. Known as puddle or dabbling ducks, they floated lightly on the surface and dredged the vegetation, often tipping up like the geese to reach the bottom. Their bills, lined with “lamellae,” or strainers, sifted any edible bits from muddy water.

Baldpates have shorter bills than other puddle ducks. They characteristically spin and dab at floating food. As we watched, these uncommon ducks demonstrated an alternative feeding technique: piracy. When a redhead, canvasback, or ring-necked diver bobbed to the surface with a mouthful of freshwater greens, a baldpate swam boldly over and plucked the food from the diver’s mouth! Lacking diving skills, the baldpate plundered its food.

We saw no namesake wild swan that day, but spotted eleven of them on the Shenandoah the previous week, just a few miles downriver from Harpers Ferry.

By Doug Pifer

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

You Might Also Like:

Contact The Observer to submit a comment, send us a photo, share a story idea, or ask a question.

We encourage our readers to let us know about artists, musicians, craft-persons, merchants, restaurants, events, or places you want us to talk about.

If you want to write for The Observer or tell a story, let us know.

Footer

Local Coverage

  • Elections
  • COVID-19

Read Online

  • Arts & Entertainment
  • Book Reviews
  • Community
  • Economy & Environment
  • Education
  • Government
  • Public Health

Sightline Stories

  • Solar in Jefferson County
  • Remembering Hartstown

Local

  • Events and Live Entertainment
  • Shepherdstown
  • Harpers Ferry & Bolivar
  • Charles Town & Ranson

The Observer

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Connect With Us
  • Print Issues
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook

Copyright © 2021 WV Independent Observer LLC · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.