Many thanks to Donald Sweig for directing us to the Surf Scoter at
Riverbend! It was a terrifically birdy day!
http://woodpecked.blogspot.com/2013/11/surf-scoter-at-riverbend-park.html
--Bryan Peters
On Thu, Nov 14, 2013 at 9:45 PM, Donald Sweig <skybirds.d@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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
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