Keith Huffman and I spent a little over an hour this afternoon at the Pohick
Bay Regional Park checking out the ducks. There seemed to be two large groups
of ducks, one on each side of the bay, probably totaling at least 2000 birds.
Right in front of the little visitor center restroom building on the park side
was a group of about 800 to 1,000 birds comprised of: numerous Redheads and
Coots, in addition there were Scaup, Gadwall, Ruddy ducks, American Widgeon,
Ring-necked ducks, and a little farther out Common Mergansers and lots of
Red-breasted Mergansers, all looking resplendent in the afternoon sun.
The large raft of ducks across the bay by Fort Belvoir appeared to also
contain Redheads, Coots, Widgeon, Scaup, and a large number of Canvasbacks, as
well as a number of Tundra Swans right along the shore. There are also some
eagles sitting out on the ice.
We scanned carefully with our scopes for most of the time we were there and
did not find the Eurasian Widgeon, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. It
was very difficult to get a good view of the birds on the Fort Belvoir side of
the bay.
Even without the Eurasian Widgeon, the number and variety of the ducks that
were there made it well worth the trip.
We are planning to go back next week and look for the Widgeon again.
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Virginia
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