Sleepswimming

I approached the shoreline as stealthily as I could, which was not stealthy enough to avoid detection by the Canada Geese. Long before I even neared the edge of the pond, the geese were on the move, moving further out, heads up and vigilant. I stood motionless hoping the geese might forget I was there and maybe drift in closer. And while I waited I noticed a duck moving near shore slowly gliding toward me.

In the viewfinder of the camera, I could see that the duck's head was tucked back in sleeping position. Yet one eye was open and it was paddling. A sleepswimming Hooded Merganser. If I were to make a sudden movement, it would surely wake and take flight. Surveying the hundreds of geese across the pond, a number of sleeping geese were drifting along with the more vigilant members of their flocks.

Recent research on Frigatebirds proved that birds sleep while flying. However, they don't plummet out of the sky because they rest half of the brain at a time, alternating hemispheres. They keep one eye open to avoid collisions and tend to fly in circles while sleepflying. Just as Mallard ducks are known to keep one eye open for predators while asleep. Marine mammals also have the ability to half-sleep, the waking half allowing them to swim while sleeping.

So if birds can sleep while flying, surely it's not difficult for them to sleep while swimming. As I watched the Hooded Merganser it swam in lazy circles, powered by a single foot (the other asleep I presume). Eventually it woke and swam off, crest of feathers upright, all hemispheres firing.

Posted on October 26, 2017 02:49 AM by