This is really a continuation of yesterday's entry but nothing much is going on today except the water is shut off again for the green van men to work on the heating system some more.
After Watchamocket Cove, we had not had our fill of birding, so after a brief detour to hear Cinderalla stories at Books on the Square in Wayland Sq. we headed for Turner Reservoir. Jackpot! So many Canada geese I couldn't count them. Nancy thought it was a shame so many of Igor's species were so close yet he couldn't get to them. I pointed out that Igor was doing quite well at Watchamocket Cove and anyway I didn't want to be the one to try to catch him and bring him over to Turner Reservoir only to have this flock of geese take off without him when the water freezes. So, anyway, the count:
The two bizarre ducks stumped us. There was nothing like them in the Stokes book (which we finally found under Nancy's bed). They were larger than mallards, pink beaks, white breasts and necks, dark backs with kind of a greenish sheen, and heads that looked like turkeys! Grotesque red naked heads with gobs of red flesh. Nancy described it as a cross between and goose and a turkey vulture. We puzzled and puzzled. I wrote down as many notes about them as I could.
On the way back to Nancy's we stopped at the Brown bookstore and made a beeline for the nature guide section. We searched every bird book on the shelf. Nothing like those weirdos. Nothing even close. Birds of the World, Birds of Costa Rica, Birds of Mars. It was time for Nancy to meet with her social worker support group so we gave up.
Later last night Nancy mentioned that one of the social workers in her group had also been at Turner Reservoir earlier in the day and wanted to know what those turkey faced birds were. Nancy gave me homework to do today. Call RI Audubon.
So this morning I called the Audubon Society and described the bizarre apparitions to the best of my notes and memory. The lady there said they sounded like Muscovy ducks - a domestic species that has gone wild. Mystery solved. I forgot to ask about the Don King hairdo one but it was the turkey faced ones I really wanted to know about.
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