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Old Squaw at Lake Jordan



As always, this morning's Chapel Hill Bird Club outing proved to be quite
interesting and enjoyable. While riding from Farrington Bridge to Ebenezer
Pt. my companions and I were discussing what we'd like to see. As we passed
the settling ponds before reaching Ebenezer Pt. I mentioned that I'd like
to see an Old Squaw (Long-Tailed Duck). This elicited a chuckle from Bruce
and Jill who gently informed me that such birds were usually found on more
open water than the settling ponds. One thing about being a beginner is you
never know just how stupid things that you might say really are, until you
see other people's reactions to them. So, I learned something.

Well, as luck would have it, just a few moments after setting up our scopes
on the beach area of Ebenezer Pt., Doug Shadwick (who didn't even know
about my conversation with Bruce and Jill) identified a winter plumage male
Old Squaw (Long-Tailed Duck) sitting in the waves hundreds of yards
offshore. Sure enough, close inspection revealed a very white duck with
noticeable black cheek and black breast. At one point I thought that I saw
an orangish duck beak on the bird. Others concured. I never did see the
long tail, and no amount of wishing seemed to work to bring the bird in
closer. 

Doug suggested that this sighting was worth posting here. What I would
suggest is that these little Sat. morning CHBC fieldtrips are really worth
going on. I've been tagging along on as many of these as I possibly could
for about 9 months, and I can say that for a beginning birder, there's very
little that compares to regularly going afield with experts who can pick
"the odd bird" out of the field and point out the field markings that are
so crucial. By going out with this and other groups, I've been introduced
to species that I wouldn't have even noticed and have learned a great many
good places to go looking that I otherwise wouldn't have known about. If
you've got a group that regularly goes out in your area, I'd strongly
suggest attending their fieldtrips when possible. I've learned more by
doing that, than I ever would've on my own. 

Other birds seen on today's outing included:

Lesser Scaup
Horned Grebes
Pied Billed Grebes
Brown Headed Nuthatches (We got a really good look at several of these very
close to the road.)
Ruby Crowned Kinglets
Golden Crowned Kinglets
Red Bellied Woodpecker
Hermit Thrushes
Herring Gulls (including a 1st year that was oddly lethargic, close in on
the beach)
Ring Billed Gulls
Bonaparte's Gulls
Cormorants
Song Sparrow
Killdeer
Bufflehead Ducks (several of these at the settlement ponds, as usual)
Mallards
Ring Necked Ducks
Bluebird

Last week the highlight of the trip for me, was getting to scope several
Common Snipe on the grassy area of Lake Crabtree, just days after asking
this group about possibly seeing one in flight. We also saw a Harrier
stalling in flight over a field at the airport on that trip. Who knows what
we'll see next, but I'm sure we'll have fun. 


Regards,
Mike Swaim
Orange Co. NC
miaim@mebtel.net