I went over to Riverbend Park for about an hour this afternoon
(3-4 pm), to see if any winter ducks had come in.
They had!
I looked mostly from the concrete viewing platform and from the river bank, 50
or 75 yards up river.
I found about 30 Bufflehead (8-10 males, and the rest females), a
resplendent male and female Common Merganser, both swimming slowly upstream,
three Wood Ducks ( two Drakes and one hen), and a number of Black Ducks. I
also discovered two Winter Wrens, one along the trail and one on the river
bank. The late afternoon sun illuminated the male Bufflehead, male Merganser,
and male Wood Ducks so that I could see all their resplendent color. It's a
great time of day in that park.
As I was walking back to trail to my car about 4 o'clock I noticed just up
river from the concrete platform, a single duck swimming by itself in the
river. I had a good look at it my binoculars and in my spotting scope, but did
not initially know what it was.
I checked the field guides that I had in my car, stuffed the books into my
pockets, picked up my scope, and got my friend the park naturalist to come with
me to look at it on the river. It was still there feeding quietly with two
Bufflehead. The bird was a Surf Scoter, probably a first winter juvenile.
The two white patches on the side of the head, the slightly dark cap, and the
shape of the bill were all definitive.
I don't know if it was the first record for that park, however the
naturalist, who has been there many years, said that he had never seen one
there before.
All in all, it was a really fine afternoon on the river.
Nice to see our winter ducky friends are coming back.
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Va.
Sent from my iPad
