66 A LOT OF DUCKS

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MICHIGAN "OIL SPILL" IS REALLY RECORD-SETTING DUCK FLOCK

What looked like a growing oil spill in Michigan’s Mackinac Straits area turned out to be a massive gathering of tens of thousands of ducks and other aquatic birds.

Last month, the Mackinac Bridge Authority started receiving calls from concerned citizens about a possible oil spill in the area. With each passing day, the number of calls kept growing because the black spot that had formed, in the distance, on the water appeared to be growing.

However, it was not oil; it was a record-setting gathering of redhead ducks. In the beginning, authorities counted around 7,000 of them gathered together under and around the Mackinac Bridge.

Their number has grown since then, and there are now several tens of thousands of birds making up the “oil spill.”

Authorities kept telling concerned callers not to worry about the “oil slick” that they thought they saw, explaining to them that it was just an unusually large gathering of birds. Many callers did not seem convinced. To be fair, the black mass does look very different from a distance, so the mistake is understandable.

A Michigan bird watcher who managed to click some photos of the massive bird congregation this week estimated their number to be around 25,000 and growing. Such gatherings are normal, as the ducks prepare to migrate to the Gulf of Mexico for the winter.

The ducks are not expected to stay together for too long; as soon as the ice forms, they will start heading south, but until then, there is safety in numbers.

“If you are surrounded by a couple of thousand other ducks like yourself, the odds are pretty good that you are going to get away, if an eagle attacks,” bird counter Steve Baker said.