"Duck Day"
Henderson and Buncombe Counties, NC
January 17, 2010

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

Rain was in the forecast for all day today, so we were kitted out with raingear and boots just in case. Thankfully it was never torrential so it never bothered our duck-watching at all. Our first stop was Lake Julian and through the fog we found a single Ring-necked Duck mixed in with the Mallards, a small group of Bufflehead in the distance and best of all, 3 female or immature Common Goldeneye that stopped by before leaving again. Goldeneye are rare visitors to the lakes around the NC Mountains and don’t even occur every winter. Four Seasons Marsh was icy and foggy and it was difficult to see any of the ducks through the swirling mist. We did see 2 molting Northern Shoveler and 1 Ruddy Duck (yes, John!) Even Lake Osceola did not have its normal complement of ducks but a nice flock of Ring-necks were very pleasant to see.

An end of the day stop produced a small flock of American Black Duck on a mostly frozen lake high up in Laurel Park- all in all a pretty good day especially considering the weather predictions.

Birdlist

Waterfowl

Canada Goose

Graylag Goose (Introduced domestic)

Green-winged Teal- 4

American Black Duck -9

American Black Duck/Mallard Hybrid - 1♂

Mallard (and multiple domestic hybrids)

Northern Shoveler - 2

Gadwall -7

Ring-necked Duck – 25+

Bufflehead -15+

Common Goldeneye -3

Hooded Merganser – 5+

Other Species

American Coot

Pied-billed Grebe

Horned Grebe -1

Great Blue Heron -2

Killdeer

Red-tailed Hawk

Cooper’s Hawk

Mourning Dove

Blue Jay

American Crow

Eastern Bluebird

American Robin

Northern Mockingbird

Golden-crowned Kinglet

European Starling

Song Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

Common Grackle

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird