Bill Parkin and I braved the cold and wind this morning, deciding to hit a
bunch of waterfowl possibilities in Frederick County.
The highlight was a stop at Whites Lake, part of the Abrams Creek Wetlands
Preserve at the edge of the city of Winchester and Frederick County. We got a
tip (from Dave Carr via Jim Smith) that there might be a blue morph Snow Goose
on the lake and indeed there was. We also found 7 species of duck, including 5
female Common Goldeneyes. Other ducks on the Lake were Canvasback, Ring-necked,
Greater Scaup, Gadwall, Mallard, and Bufflehead. Pics of the Goldeneyes and the
Snow Goose can be seen on our eBird list at
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52515824 ;.
Just down the road at the Rubbermaid Factory pond on Rt. 11 there were 17
Redheads, 16 Canvasbacks, and a Pied-billed Grebe, along with a couple hundred
Canada Geese.
Lakeside Lake behind the Bowman Library on Tasker Road had a Horned Grebe, 5
Hooded Mergansers, 2 Mallards, and a female Greater Scaup.
The pond at Borden’s Spring (Federal Hill) held 17 Canvasbacks and 3 Redheads.
This group of ducks has been there since early in the week.
Back home at Lake Frederick we found a single female Common Goldeneye and 100+
Canada Geese. Since about late December there have been very few ducks at this
location. Earlier in the week Bill did see 3 Herring Gulls on the ice. These
are pretty rare on this side of the Blue Ridge.
Dave Boltz
Lake Frederick
