Greetings All:
Sheri Anderson and I looked for the Long-tailed Duck at White River
Lake from 8:30 to 12:00 this morning and from 2:05 to 2:30 this
afternoon - with, from any perspective, limited success. Nothing
wanted to move towards the center of the lake and most birds wanted to
stay on the wrong side of the large island for viewing from the north
or wanted to stay in portions of the east arm of the lake that are
pretty darn hard to get to:)
We saw the bird briefly, from campground four (which is accessible -
safely - in a honda civic - from the first driveway - do not try the
third driveway without high clearance - don't try the second driveway
unless you have a tank) on the west arm of the lake, in the company of
four Gadwalls, before it disappeared, flying eastward. This was at
about 9:15.
We relocated it, again very briefly, trailing a group of Ruddy Ducks
on the east arm of the lake at about 10:15. We tried to get closer
but this was to no avail and we had to bushwhack (a gentle term -
given the bushes we were whacking) our way back to the car. It was
not in the group of ducks that we flushed, irritating Jennifer Miller
and Lena Zappia - those were all Canvasbacks, Redheads, Lesser Scaups,
Hooded Mergansers, and Ruddy Ducks:)
We then had a brief look at her, this time trailing a pair of
Canvasbacks, from the point at the marina - disappearing behind the
largest island - this was close to 11:50..
At no point was the bird even remotely photographable - it could
barely be recognized at 48X-60X in my spotting scope - and if I hadn't
seen hundreds of these birds before (spent the first fifteen years of
my birding life in the Pacific Northwest) I wouldn't have bit on it.
We returned in the afternoon - after a much easier time with the Hairy
Woodpecker at Swenson Park in Spur - and got our best look at the bird
- at about 2:20 - from the point at the marina when it swam in front
of the large island in advance of four American Coots. Still too far
off for photographs - a tiny bit better through the scope at maximum
magnification.
This is, easily, the most frustrating experience I have had with the species.
Anthony Hewetson
