[wisb] Black-bellied Whistling Duck & Avocet Still at Shovelers Sink
- From: Heather Kauffman <hlkauffman@xxxxxxx>
- To: wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:13:25 -0700 (PDT)
Heather P. and I watched the Black-bellied Whistling Duck and Avocet at
Shovelers Sink this evening for over an hour. They were both still present when
we left at 7:45pm. The Avocet stayed out in the open, beautiful views with
scope
the whole time we were there. We parked in the lot off of Minneral Point Road
and set up the scope in a cleared patch of grass.
The BB Whistling Duck moved around more, but was often close to the Avocet,
even
in the same scope view several times. Got a beautiful standing view in evening
light, with great view of black on belly, white stripe along side, warm browns,
and the pink-orange bill :-) But wow, can that duck ever keep its head under
water a long time. Also fun to watch the Avocet feeing with a sideways scooping
motion with its bill. Got neat size perspectives when a Lesser Yellowlegs was
close to the Avocet...and then a Sandhill Crane landed behind them.
We took our junior birder along (12) and it was great to watch her awe-struck,
quiet reverence. Everything is new for her, so Green Heron, Spotted Sandpiper,
Pectoral Sandpiper, Cedar Waxwing, Green-winged Teal, Wood Duck and more were
all life birds for her. The older 3 won't bird with us for anything (eye-rolls
and "bird geek" comments abound), so it's nice the youngest is discovering
birds
:-)
If you haven't been yet, it's well worth the trip! Beautiful, beautiful birds.
It takes a lot for an Avocet to be the second best bird on the pond, but that
Black-bellied Whistling Duck is quite a charmer.
Happy birding!
Heather Kauffman
Madison, Dane County
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- » [wisb] Black-bellied Whistling Duck & Avocet Still at Shovelers Sink - Heather Kauffman
