Dear All, I find it very distressing and heart-rending to see the birds perish in the unusually nasty winter weather. Shaker Green lake/Duck pond has 2 pairs of hooded mergansers, and a male with 2 females of ring-necked ducks, in addition to several ( at least 5-6) wood ducks and several mallards. I know that the woodducks and the mallards generally are good at taking care of themselves, and the former can roost in the trees. However, I am concerned for the mergansers and the ring necked ducks. I was wondering if you would have any information on their behavior or if there's anything we can do to give these poor birds a slightly better chance at life. I know that we are not supposed to intervene with the natural causes, however, I also found the Wendy park area being frozen with lots of dead birds, after a nice weather day earlier a couple of weeks ago. I am wondering if one should create some methods that will allow the water remain open in such areas with higher migrant bird populations. For example, creating a windmill at the corner pier that will generate some heat to keep the water open on such days. The power may be used for other purposes on regular days. I am not sure if there would be some other idea around this forum to protect these birds. I appreciate your response, and thank you for reading my post. sincerely, Pow (Pow Joshi, Shaker Heights/Cleveland area) On 25 March 2014 21:48, Pow Joshi <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Dear All, > > I find it very distressing and heart-rending to see the birds perish in > the unusually nasty winter weather. Shaker Green lake/Duck pond has 2 pairs > of hooded mergansers, and a male with 2 females of ring-necked ducks, in > addition to several ( at least 5-6) wood ducks and several mallards. > I know that the woodducks and the mallards generally are good at taking > care of themselves, and the former can roost in the trees. However, I am > concerned for the mergansers and the ring necked ducks. I was wondering if > you would have any information on their behavior or if there's anything we > can do to give these poor birds a slightly better chance at life. > > I know that we are not supposed to intervene with the natural causes, > however, I also found the Wendy park area being frozen with lots of dead > birds, after a nice weather day earlier a couple of weeks ago. I am > wondering if one should create some methods that will allow the water > remain open in such areas with higher migrant bird populations. For > example, creating a windmill at the corner pier that will generate some > heat to keep the water open on such days. The power may be used for other > purposes on regular days. I am not sure if there would be some other idea > around this forum to protect these birds. > > I appreciate your response, and thank you for reading my post. > sincerely, > Pow > ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]