A Week of Waterfowl

I have spent most of my birding time this week looking for waterfowl and swimming waterbirds. I made three visits out to 61/2 Station Road Sanctuary here in Goshen early in the week and did pretty well:

  • Canada Goose
  • Gadwall
  • Mallard
  • Northern Shoveler
  • Green-winged Teal
  • Bufflehead
  • Ruddy Duck
  • Pied-billed Grebe
  • American Coot

Most of these birds were located in the small pond located south of the Heritage Trail. It is pretty difficult to get any good looks on this pond – there are many branches and brush blocking the view, plus the birds are pretty far away. I used my scope to get some good looks, but taking photos is tough.

This Double-crested Cormorant was extremely accommodating. Celery Farm 11-18-12.

I also made it out to the Celery Farm a couple days after work. I did pretty well there, seeing more Canada Geese and Mallards, my first Hooded Mergansers of the fall, a Ruddy duck and Northern Shoveler. I also scored with a Double-crested Cormorant that posed nicely for me.

Also located near my work in Bergen County NJ,  The Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve seemed like a good place to search for waterbirds moving through. I made it out there two afternoons after work and I was not disappointed:

 

  • Canada Goose
  • Gadwall
  • Mallard
  • American Wigeon
  • Hooded Merganser
  • Double-crested Cormorant
  • American Coot

 

 

I had a little bonus while I was out there – a GREEN HERON! It is definitely unusual to see a Green Heron in Bergen county at this time of the year, and eBird considers it a rare bird right now. It certainly caught me by surprise but I was able to snap a photo as it flew off:

An unusual sighting – a GREEN HERON in mid November. Franklin Lakes Nature Reserve.

Finally, on Saturday I went out to Swan Lake in Sullivan County NY with my birding buddy Karen Miller. I want to thank John Haas for giving us the lay of the land – it really helped out and we had a great morning of birding. Highlights for me were several Lesser Scaup which is a life bird for me (thanks John for help with the ID!) and also seeing over 100 Common Mergansers (my first of the fall). I was finally able to get some waterfowl photos:

This is the closest I’ve ever been to a Ruddy Duck. Swan Lake 11-17-18
We watched this Bufflehead fly in and I was able to snap a few photos.
A Ruddy Duck and a Lesser Scaup at Swan Lake 11-17-12
Two of many Common Mergansers out at Swan Lake.
Lesser Scaup. Swan Lake 11-17-12.

3 thoughts on “A Week of Waterfowl”

    1. It would be hard not to! There are so many birds there (ducks in particular), and you can get such good looks at them. It’s a great spot.

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