"Duck Day" in Henderson and Buncombe Counties, NC
February 9, 2009

Route: Lake Julian, Dana Road, Lake Osceola, Crooked Creek GC, Four Seasons Marsh, Bryson Road, Beaver Lake & Lake Julian

We borrowed a day from spring today, so it seemed rather unusual searching for ducks in 6OF weather. Also, being a beautiful Sunday morning, everyone else seemed to have the same idea as we did. Lake Julian was full of fishermen and picnickers and Beaver Lake was afloat with model yachts, walkers and runners. It's always enjoyable running Duck Day each winter and today was no exception- most of the lakes were now thawed out after the very cold weather of last week. 3 Horned Grebes were a nice start at Lake Julian, but the Greater White-fronted Goose had just swum out of view before we arrived.

Lake Osceola had been drawn down for dam repairs leaving vast expanses of wet mud. This was very attractive to a small flock of Green-winged Teal that were even starting to display. Several Northern Pintail were feeding in the shallows, but the water was obviously too shallow for many diving ducks. There had been a couple of Snow and Ross's Geese hanging out in the Mills River area; we found the Snows sleeping, but the Ross's seemed to have moved on. Beaver Lake had the long-staying Greater Scaup, but the female Canvasback had been replaced by a stunning male Redhead. Our last stop of the day was back at Lake Julian to see if the Greater White-fronted Goose had reappeared. Our timing was perfect as we all managed about 2 minutes of viewing before it once again walked around the corner. It was a very nice day.