“Cassie” Canvasback’s Return
If you followed me last year, you may recall my posts (highlighted below) on a female Canvasback that I named “Cassie”. She had not migrated back to Canada last Spring, so I took a special interest in her and learned her left wing was damaged. Cassie wasn’t able to fly back home to breed.
She Is A Survivor (first post May 30, 2018)
Cassie hung around Cambridge Creek throughout the summer and was a delight and inspiration to me. I adored her, but as comes with getting attached, I worried about her survival too. Yet, she continued to prove she could take care of herself. Even if she could not fly, nor dive for food.
Cassie Canvasback – Remember Me? (second post August 2, 2018)
After the second post, I captured her a few more times. Here is one of the last photogenic shots of her back then hanging at our end of the creek.
“Cassie” Canvasback – August 10, 2018
I sighted her a few times after that, but it was at a distance down the creek. Those sightings became less and less. By the end of September, I didn’t see her any more. The wintering Canvasbacks weren’t due here until December. What had happened to her? I worried and continued to watch for her.
On the afternoon of December 21st, I stepped out on my balcony to check for wildlife on the creek. Lo and behold, there was a female Canvasback below me. Cassie was back and pretty as ever!
“Cassie” Canvasback – December 21, 2018
How did I know it was her? It’s as if she read my mind. Cassie flashed her wings for me shortly thereafter.
“Cassie” Canvasback (female)
Note damage to left wing
“Cassie” Canvasback See damage to her left wing in this photo?
I could tell many of her feathers had grown back on her left wing. How wonderful! Is she able to fly now? I don’t know that yet; I hope if she can, she will fly in or out of the creek one day to show me.
What about diving for food, can she do that now? She couldn’t before and had to forage piers, boats, and bulkheads for food.
Two days later, Cassie showed off her redeveloped diving skills. I was delighted for her!
Cassie showing me her diving skills
Did you miss that? Here, Cassie will do it again for you.
Cassie doing the dive
More from the past several weeks of beautiful “Cassie”.
“Reflecting Cassie”
Even ducks have itches!
“On the Move”
“Nap Time”
“Making Water Rings”
We iced over here at the top end of Cambridge Creek; and, of course, all the birds disappeared but the gulls. The ice has since melted, and I saw Cassie yesterday.
Even though hundreds of Canvasbacks are not too far from the creek’s entrance off the Choptank River, and maybe that is where Cassie has been “hiding”, how nice that she returned to Cambridge Creek that offered her a home to keep her healthy and safe as she healed through her wing injury the past year.
Welcome back, Cassie!
