Weather Makes a Difference to Waterfowl Watching
Two separate field trips in February, both led by Bryan Henson and Allison Gallo, took participants to several locations in Loudoun County to look for waterfowl as a follow up to the virtual Wildlife Workshop held in January.
Despite cold weather causing a lot of ponds to be frozen, our first field trip on February 6 yielded a good mix of waterfowl. Our first stop, at Middlesex Drive Pond, was mostly frozen with a small bit of open water that contained a Mute Swan, Gadwall and Mallards. Our second stop, Ashburn Lake, added several new waterfowl to our list including Ring-necked Ducks, Common Mergansers, Buffleheads, Pied-billed Grebes and our most uncommon bird of the day: a Cackling Goose! After Ashburn Lake, we visited Beaverdam Creek Reservoir from both the Mt. Hope Church and the Reservoir Road entrances. Five new species were found from the church side: Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon and Hooded Mergansers. Two more species were found from the Reservoir Road side: Canvasback and Red-breasted Merganser.
On our February 12 trip, warm weather made for pretty comfortable waterfowl watching. At Middlesex Drive Pond, we found a Mute Swan, a few Ring-necked Ducks, several Gadwall, some Mallards, some American Black Ducks and one hybrid duck — a Mallard x American Black Duck hybrid. Our second stop, Ashburn Lake, introduced us to a few additional species, including Common Merganser, Hooded Merganser, Lesser Scaup and a Pied-billed Grebe. Our final stop at Beaverdam Creek Reservoir, added one new species to our list: two pairs of Northern Pintails.
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