Yesterday was the last day of the hunting season for sea ducks and other migratory birds in our coastal zone. And, it looks like the owner of this truck at Naskeag Harbor literally has “bagged” a pair of common eiders, Maine’s largest native duck species.
Of course, these are well-crafted duck decoys that duck hunters use to lure eiders into range. Seeing them brought to mind the seeming strangeness of the word “decoy,” so I looked into its origin. It turns out that the word derives from the Latin for “cage” (cavea), the Middle Dutch for “the cage” (de kouw), and the fact that tamed ducks in cages or otherwise restrained were used in days of yore to lure wild ducks. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on January 6, 2023.)