The Kootenai River serves as both home and highway for an array of waterfowl. Mallard ducks, Canadian geese, and common mergansers live there year-round and nest along the water’s edge, where food is abundant. With the arrival of cold weather in the fall, hundreds of additional birds come from Canada, including the common goldeneye. Once lakes and streams freeze, many birds spend the winter feeding on the open waters of the Kootenai River.