Category Archives: Ducks and Geese

Talkin’ About Teals

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Braden is off this week so I’m filling in. Just kidding. Birders are never off. Don’t you know that by now? I did want to use this week, however, to talk about an especially cool group of ducks that we observed during our recent Big Weekend. You got it: teals.

**Always a favorite of hunters, Blue-winged Teal have a more subtle beauty than other species.**

We left Missoula about noon on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and I have to admit, the only ducks on our minds were the fabled Harlequin Ducks, which we hoped to glimpse in Glacier National Park—and add to our Year Lists. We did get two spectacular experiences with Harlequins—a breeding pair at Josephine Lake in the Many Glacier area and a lone male on MacDonald Creek the next day. I have to say, though, that the teals matched the Harlequins for beauty, and overpowered them with raw abundance.

**Cinnamon Teals are not only one of the most beautiful ducks, they are one of the most rare. According to Ducks Unlimited, estimates of breeding population are between 100,000 and 300,000.**

We saw all four species of common teals on our trip: Green-winged, Blue-winged, Cinnamon, and Northern Shoveler—which I didn’t realize was a teal until Braden informed me of the fact. To make matters even more confusing, the last three species are in the genus Spatula while the Green-winged Teal is in the genus Anas with a bunch of other dabbling ducks. Go figure. But full disclosure: I am not a taxonomist, so let’s not get too hung up on that now.

Several things impressed us about these four species—especially the three birds in Spatula—a name that undoubtedly has something to do with the Northern Shovelers impressively wide honker. The first thing, of course, is that these species of ducks are exceptionally beautiful. Stunning, in fact. Just look at the photos of the males. I mean, “Whoa Dude, where’d you get those threads?”

**I first fell in love with Northern Shovelers during our 2016 Big Year and grow more impressed with them at every encounter.**

Another thing about these ducks is that they all seem to adopt similar lifestyles. We kept finding them together in many of the same places: Browns Lake, Benton National Wildlife Refuge, and even the prairie potholes along the highway. Not surprising since they are all dabbling ducks and prefer to nest in or near shallow bodies of water.

The real kicker for us, though, happened at our very first stop, Browns Lake. Braden was looking at a group of ducks on a small pond and he said, “Doesn’t something look a little odd about that duck?” I studied it and agreed. “I think it’s a Cinnamon—Shoveler Hybrid,” he offered. “What? Really?” I’d heard of hybrids but figured they were exceptionally rare. Then again, this duck didn’t look like anything else we’d seen. I suggested that it looked more like a Blue-winged—Shoveler hybrid because of the white crescent behind the bill. “Other teals also can show that in their juvenile phases,” Braden pointed out. Smart-alec kid.

**Shoveler—Blue-winged hybrid? Shoveler—Cinnamon? Send us your thoughts with a comment!**

One thing was for certain. This bird had not followed the rule books for sticking to one particular species. Interestingly, another teal hybrid was IDed in a different Montana location by another birder the same week. The lesson? If you keep going out there to look, the birds will keep surprising you.

In Glacier National Park, When It Rains, It Pours—Animals

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When my dad and I stepped out of our car at Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park we were welcomed with a barrage of raindrops. Water fell from every imaginable place, and small puddles had formed in the miniature valleys of the parking lot. Thankfully, both of us had our raincoats, but for some reason during the packing stage of the trip we had looked at our rain pants and said, “Nah. We won’t need them.”

As it turns out, we did.

We did not have any other places we planned to bird today, however, so we decided to brave the monsoon and see if any birds were dumb enough to be out in the rain like we were. Swiftcurrent Lake was known for having great birds, including Dusky and Spruce Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, Tennessee Warbler, Varied Thrush and Olive-sided Flycatcher.

**A wet day in Glacier National Park is better than a dry day almost anywhere else!**

After being greeted by a wet Gray (or Canada) Jay in the parking lot, the first quarter-mile along the lake shore did not yield any living creatures. We listened for the grouse that the park rangers had said were here, but either the rain masked the sounds, or, more likely, the grouse were taking shelter from the storm. At one point we did have an encounter with two thrushes, but they uncooperatively disappeared into the brush, leaving us to wonder at their identities.

We came to an intersection and turned right to hike over the small glacial moraine to Lake Josephine. There, we walked out onto the dock and scanned the water, looking for any avian action. By the shore off to the left, I thought I saw a splash, so I focused my binoculars on it. After a minute, a slate-gray, blue and cinnamon-colored waterfowl with distinctive white markings popped up—a male Harlequin Duck!

Even with the limits of my dad’s iPhone camera, you can see how magnificent Harlequin Ducks are. Fortunately, we got another view of a Harlequin Duck the next day on MacDonald Creek—with our cameras this time.

We stalked closer to the duck and its mate, marvelling at our luck while at the same cursing ourselves for not bringing our cameras. The two ducks continued to dive, oblivious to the rain and completely fearless of us. Soon, they floated closer, and passed three meters from where we stood, gracing us with their incredible but subtle beauty.

We spent thirty minutes watching the ducks, wet but happy, then decided to book it back to the car. We started the long drive back to East Glacier, but stopped beside Swiftcurrent Lake when we saw people staring up at the mountain beside the road. We raised our binoculars, and sure enough, spotted a herd of at least twenty Bighorn Sheep staring back at us from their rocky vantage points.

“Wait a minute,” said my dad, “There are three more much higher up. Wait, no! Those are Mountain Goats!”

**Mountain Goats high on the mountain slopes of the Many Glacier area, Glacier National Park.**

We watched them for a second, then continued driving. We had just seen two of the Glacier Park Big Four—the rare, large mammals most commonly seen in the park. The other two were Grizzly Bear and Moose, but I doubted we’d see those.

I was wrong. Just a little ways past the goats and sheep, we spotted a pair of stopped pickup trucks, their drivers gazing at the meadow right off the road. Two wet but content-looking Grizzly adolescents dug for roots in the brambles, unafraid of us! Well, you know what they say: When it rains, wildlife pours!

**Between the Harlequin Ducks and Grizzly Bears, we had a most memorable day in one of our favorite places.**

Dynamic Spring Birding in Deer Lodge

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When life hands you an opportunity—especially a birding opportunity—you’d better take it. We learned that the easy way last weekend when Phil Ramsey, dad of our birding buddy Nick, offered us a two-night stay at the Clark Fork Coalition’s amazing Dry Cottonwood Creek Ranch. Phil couldn’t join us, but on Friday Nick picked Braden and me up in his truck, and off we went.

Thanks to Montana’s abundant spring daylight, we reached Deer Lodge with plenty of time to bird and after a quick dinner at 4Bs, explored the back roads leading south from the prison. Nick’s top target for the weekend was a long-shot, Greater White-fronted Goose, while Braden especially wanted to see his first Golden Eagle of the year. Me? I had my own goal: Long-billed Curlews, a species Braden and I had seen only once before in Montana. Altogether, Braden figured that for the weekend we might pick up eight new year birds while I predicted ten.

This was Braden’s and my first good look at an (intermediate morph?) Swainson’s Hawk and the bird cooperated beautifully, sitting on this post for a full five minutes.

As we drove, we spotted a number of nice, albeit expected, birds: Mountain Bluebirds, American Kestrel, and a scattering of ducks. We also got to observe a beautiful Swainson’s Hawk on a telephone pole—the first real surprise of the weekend. As we turned right, down a dirt road, however, I suddenly shouted “Look out there!” Sure enough, three Long-billed Curlews hunted insects under beautiful evening light. Before the evening was out, we would tally 20 more of these graceful bizarre-looking birds, a number of them dancing out their courtship rituals.

Several pairs of curlews were feeling especially frisky but the females seemed a bit antagonized by the attention. Maybe the males should have opted for dinner and a movie?

Part of the weekend package was a personalized tour of the ARCO superfund ponds with Gary Swant (see post “For Birders, Every Year is a Big Year”). Nick, Braden, and I had been lucky enough to bird with Gary the last Christmas Bird Count, but we were eager to see how spring species differed from the area’s winter visitors. As expected, waterfowl were out in full force—including Eared, Horned, Western, and Red-necked Grebes. We enjoyed Red-breasted Mergansers and Nick spotted a Sora, but the real surprise was the number of loons—eight, all told. “That’s easily the most we’ve ever seen together,” Braden exulted.

We saw at least twenty Red-necked Grebes during our day with Gary—and enjoyed every single one of them! It’s easy to see why.

Leaving the ponds, Gary took us to a place near Anaconda that we’d never birded: Dutchman’s Slough where, within minutes, Braden nabbed his top weekend target, Golden Eagle. Then we noticed three wading birds in the distance and assumed they must be more Long-billed Curlews. One of them was, but the other two were something we’d never seen: Marbled Godwits in the middle of a grassy field! After bidding a fond farewell to Gary, we rounded out the day with one more great score—Solitary Sandpiper in a large puddle on the south edge of Deer Lodge.

We were sad to be leaving the next morning, but an unseasonal snow storm urged us home. On the drive, however, we decided to stop at Rock Creek, the site of Braden’s Eagle Project (see post “Five Valleys, Many Birds”). Almost as soon as we got out of the car, we spotted three more stunning year birds: Chipping Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, and shockingly, Lark Sparrow. The latter two were most likely just migrating through and we felt lucky to nab them as they often prove difficult to find in Montana.

The Clark Fork Coalition’s Dry Cottonwood Creek Ranch proved the perfect HQ for birding the spectacular Deer Lodge Valley.

So how did we do for the weekend? Well, we shattered our estimates for how many new year birds we might see, adding more than twenty to each of our lists. More important, the trip drove home a lesson for every birder: during spring migration, anything can show up—and does! Well, except for the elusive Greater White-fronted Goose! Sorry, Nick.

Big Day Mentality

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This is the Big Day Mentality: Every species, no matter how rare, is worth one tally. During a 24-hour period, a team of birders try to collect as many tallies as possible; the end total is the sum of every single bird species seen or heard during the day by at least two members of the team. At the San Diego Birding Festival, my dad and I were invited to be “first lieutenants” on two Big Day field trips.

We co-led our first outing under the expert leadership of veteran birder Phil Pryde, a local San Diegoan who had an ambitious schedule planned out for the day, in order to maximize the amount of species we saw. From dawn to dusk we scoured San Diego county, which is larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined; a bird only counted if one of the leaders and one of the participants identified it. By the end of the day we had arrived at a total of 113 species, and my dad and I at just over a hundred individually. The number wasn’t bad, and the day had given us a rough idea of how many birds to expect for the next Big Day. Overall, though, the day hadn’t been very “birdy”—we had missed quite a few common species.

At Lindo Lake we spotted several pairs of the most photogenic Wood Ducks we had ever encountered!

On our next Big Day, under the guidance of our good-natured chief, Eitan Altman, we were determined to break this record. Unfortunately, the conditions didn’t look good—a low, wet mist had rolled over the area. Thanks to the rain, we didn’t have to rush inland to get early-morning songbirds (they were probably huddled in their warm, dry nests with no intent on warbling at the weather), so we birded along the coast at a relaxed pace. While doing this, we saw an unexpectedly high number of species, including Common Loon, Surf Scoter and Brant, which had not been a guarantee, a huge flock of Black Skimmers, and rarities such as Glaucous-winged Gull and the well-known Reddish Egret which hung out in the San Diego River Estuary. The eccentric bird’s gait reminded me of Kramer from the TV show Seinfeld.

This Greater White-fronted Goose is a regular at Lindo Lake.

Finally, around nine in the morning, we headed inland to Lindo Lake, the place which had yielded the highest number of species to us on the previous Big Day. We tallied high numbers of waterfowl, woodpeckers and more, including some more rarities: the resident Greater White-fronted Goose hanging out with a flock of domestic geese, not one but two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and a Bonaparte’s Gull that had somehow wound its way inland.

We continued hitting different habitats to nab species, and by three in the afternoon our total sat at 120 species, the most recent being an altitudinally-challenged Band-tailed Pigeon, a calling Canyon Wren and the ever-rare American Robin. As soon as I confirmed our total, Eitan began thinking of other species we could pick up, now determined to beat his personal record of 128. On our way back to the coast we stopped at places to grab specific birds, including White-tailed Kite and Greater Roadrunner. The tide was out now, and at the San Diego River Estuary we grabbed another six species, though unfortunately none of the rarities being reported there (Tricolored Heron, Mew Gull, Eurasian Wigeon) except the spunky Reddish Egret and a beautiful double rainbow.

We spotted a wintering flock of blackbirds at Lindo Lake, including many Tricolored Blackbirds, a California endemic.

As the day grew closer to our deadline of five o’clock, we opted to try and get a few last birds at a place called Fiesta Island, arguing over possible birds:

“Was that a Northern Harrier?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure?.”

And finally, right at the entrance to the island we hit 130 with a Spotted Sanspiper bobbing along the rocks of the coastline. A pair of American Kestrels on the actual island sealed the deal.

We finished the trip, said our goodbyes, then responded appropriately to our biggest day ever by collapsing into bed.

Birding the Mexican Border

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Listen to our interview with Sarah Aronson on Montana NPR’s “The Write Question” which aired Thursday, March 7!

Last week, Braden and I had the opportunity to attend the San Diego Bird Festival and do some of the most intense—and fun—birding of our lives. The festival will undoubtedly fill several posts, but before it began, we wanted to do something we’d been thinking about for at least a year—bird the California/Mexico border.

The border couldn’t have provided a greater contrast between the open wetlands and scrub on the U.S. side and the bustling city of Tijuana right across “la frontera.”

Because of a missed connection, we didn’t reach San Diego until 1 p.m., but we picked up our rental car and made a beeline down I-5 toward Tijuana. Our destination was the actual spot where the border meets the Pacific Ocean, and we weren’t sure how close we could drive. We ended up in a parking lot about a mile east and north of our destination and began trekking along a dirt road heading toward the ocean. It was a surreal experience as helicopters circled overhead—Navy fliers, evidently, training for duty—and the city of Tijuana pulsed just beyond the formidable border wall a mile to the south. Around us, though, stretched intertidal wetlands and fields, where we picked up Savannah Sparrows and meadowlarks and collected a number of duck species and a lone Eared Grebe.

This group of 500 Surf Scoters delighted us—especially when Braden identified a Black Scoter among them! Note Mexico’s Coronado Islands in the background—an important nesting site for Scripps’s Murrelets.

After hitting the beach, we headed south, the border fence looming in the distance. Almost immediately, we got a great surprise—a group of 500 or so Surf Scoters floating just offshore. For we Montana boys, this was a true delight—made even more so when Braden discovered a Black Scoter in one of his photos! We were hoping to go all the way to the fence and talk to some folks on the Mexico side, but a stoic Border Patrol agent shooed us back.

The two Heermann’s Gulls on top of these dolphins were vaunted additions to our Mexico list!

Undaunted, Braden said, “Let’s start a Mexico list,” so we spent half an hour watching birds perching on the border fence and flying between nations—without passports! President Trump would have been furious. In all, we tallied seven Mexico species: Rock Pigeon, Willet, Heermann’s Gull, Western Gull, Ring-billed Gull, European Starling, and a lone Willet sitting on the fence. Oh yeah, and a group of twenty Surf Scoters who had drifted across the border without a care in the world!

Next Up: San Diego Big Day #1!