Brig 7/28--Black-bellied Whistlling Duck

Since I got a message yesterday that the boards were being pulled on the Lower Bog, today was the last day I could get down to Brig without experiencing Whitesbog FOMO. And since one of my favorite ducks has been reported sporadically for the last couple of weeks, I was down there very early this morning. 

My first stop at the dogleg pool was unsuccessful. I ran into a birder I hadn't seen for quite a while (pandemic and all) and he told me that the duck tended to come out in the afternoon. Of course. And here I was rushing to the spot, blowing off flocks of shorebirds because I was on a mission. We did tease out a Pectoral Sandpiper on a mud flat for our troubles, and as I walked back to where I'd parked the car, I picked up the Stilt Sandpipers he told me were in the water near the cedar stand but I didn't drive down there for them.

On my second go-round I added the "lingering" probably injured Snow Geese and a Gull-billed Tern at GM 5, along with a lone Bank Swallow. On the east dike I saw a familiar vehicle and it was Greg with a couple of other birders. We formed a very loose caravan and made our way up to the dogleg. I was a little ahead of them, scanning all the rose mallow which the duck was said to favor, but I was only finding Mallards. Greg pulled up and immediately had the Black-bellied Whistling Duck in a little channel that I couldn't see from where I stood. I walked back to where they were and got the duck in my scope but I didn't think I would get any photographs. It looked, from our angle, that it would be hidden behind the phragmites from the road. But upon driving up to where we saw it, we found that the vegetation wasn't really all that thick and the duck had decided to swim into the middle of the pool anyway, affording us our photo op. 

Since I had a target bird my list is lighter (68 species) than it would have been had I stopped and scanned every flock of shorebirds. I would also have more fly bites. Frankly, I would have been happy to just have the Whistling Duck on my day list--it is such an interesting looking bird with it's bright red bill and startled look around the eye. And they do whistle, though I've only heard that once. Happy to have it on the list, since I missed it last year. 

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  1       

Snow Goose  2

Canada Goose  60

Mute Swan  20

Wood Duck  8

Mallard  25

American Black Duck  3

Mourning Dove  10

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1     Heard Jen’s Trail

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1

Semipalmated Plover  1

Stilt Sandpiper  3

Least Sandpiper  6

Pectoral Sandpiper  1

Semipalmated Sandpiper  150

Short-billed Dowitcher  20

Greater Yellowlegs  10

Lesser Yellowlegs  5

Laughing Gull  300

Ring-billed Gull  1

Herring Gull  50

Great Black-backed Gull  5

Least Tern  9

Gull-billed Tern  1

Caspian Tern  5

Common Tern  1

Forster's Tern  45

Black Skimmer  23

Double-crested Cormorant  110

Great Blue Heron  10

Great Egret  25

Snowy Egret  26

Black-crowned Night-Heron  4

Glossy Ibis  60

Osprey  13

Red-bellied Woodpecker  1     Heard

Eastern Wood-Pewee  2     Heard

Great Crested Flycatcher  1     Heard

Eastern Kingbird  6

White-eyed Vireo  4

Blue Jay  1     Heard

American Crow  4

Carolina Chickadee  3     Heard

Tufted Titmouse  2     Heard

Purple Martin  20

Tree Swallow  25

Bank Swallow  1

Barn Swallow  5

White-breasted Nuthatch  2     Heard

House Wren  1     Heard

Marsh Wren  5

Carolina Wren  6     Heard

European Starling  12

Gray Catbird  15

Brown Thrasher  2

Northern Mockingbird  1

American Robin  2

House Finch  1

American Goldfinch  4

Field Sparrow  4

Seaside Sparrow  1     Heard

Song Sparrow  2

Eastern Towhee  1     Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  30

Boat-tailed Grackle  1

Common Yellowthroat  6

Yellow Warbler  1

Northern Cardinal  2     Heard

With Glossy Ibis