Thursday, February 23, 2017

spring minded ducks

One of the coolest looking ducks had spring on their mind stopping this afternoon on Prospect Lake. Three GREEN WINGED TEAL landed in . Thanks to Karen O' hearn' s tweet, I was fortunate to see the ducks along with duck friends close by.

The Green winged Teals were spotted by an orange  bouy 150 feet East of the West Island rustic shelter,in Prospect Lake' s southwest section. Two drakes ,with their yellow bottoms  showing prominently ,accompanied a hen. The one drake waded adventuresly swimming off then right of the bouy ,joined by a quartet of Drake RING NECKED DUCKS I spotted earlier adjacent to Three Sisters Islands. At one time the single teal Drake nestled within the frolicking Ringneckeds, making it a cool moment to watch.I stuck around watching these ducks as the sunlight was just brilliant illuminating the ducks especially the reddish and green heads of the Drake teals;Great watching these birds

Duck diversity abound on the lake during my time watching. Also present: Red Breasted Merganser,Northern Shoveler,American Black,Ruddy, American Wigeon, and Mallard. Wood Duck was present in the Upper Pool. So we are talking 9 duck species.

The still lingering pair SNOW GEESE waded along the Western shoreline..Spring must be on their mind as well.