For the Birds: One species shy, but annual 'duck hunt' is still a success

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We got a couple I didn't expect and missed a few I thought we would get. It all added up to nine duck species, one shy of our goal of 10.

As we do every Thanksgiving morning, my boys and I headed out to some local bodies of water for our annual duck hunt. It's actually a duck count as we just look at the birds and hope to get up to 10 species. The goal gives us something for which to strive during the day. We've never actually reached 10, but that eventually becomes a sidenote to the bigger picture of upholding a tradition and spending time together looking for birds. This was our ninth "duck hunt." We started when Andrew, now 10, was one-and-a-half years old. Will, now 7, has been coming along every year.

Some years are easier than others to keep them interested in standing out in the cold looking at ducks. Visiting water with playgrounds in the vicinity used to be a trick I employed to keep them interested longer. That trick has lost its effectiveness as they've outgrown playgrounds, for the most part. But this year, for the part, they seemed genuinely interested in the count. They even mentioned it with excitement a few times leading up to the day. On the actual count itself, they seemed to toggle between interested and wanting to get home. I'll take the moments of interest.

The day got off to a good start as Holly Pond in Stamford held Hooded Mergansers, American Wigeon, Bufflehead, Mallards and Gadwall. Andrew, the scribe, jotted down the species and looked them up in a field guide. He handed the open book back to Will.

The two Darien beaches, Weed and Pear Tree Point, yielded only one new species: Black Duck. I couldn't believe we had visited three spots and didn't see a Red-breasted Merganser yet. That's one of the "low-hanging fruit" species around here in late fall. Not finding one early would loom large in the end.

Photo by Chris Bosak A male Hooded Merganser in Holly Pond in Stamford, CT, Nov. 2013. Photo by Chris Bosak A male Hooded Merganser in Holly Pond in Stamford, CT, Nov. 2013. Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close For the Birds: One species shy, but annual 'duck hunt' is still a success 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Off to Norwalk where we visited Wood's Pond and found only Mallards and Hoodeds. I was hoping for a Wood Duck as that is one of those 50-50 species during late fall. No luck.

Nor did we have luck finding a Wood Duck at 14 Acre Pond around the corner from Wood's Pond. Those were my best chances to land a Wood Duck, so that species was now unlikely. The far edge of 14 Acre Pond did have a few Green-winged Teal, which was another of those 50-50 birds.

A quick run over to Broad River added Ring-necked Duck, but not Common Merganser, which I was hoping would be there. Common Mergansers -- one of my favorite birds, by the way -- can sometimes be found there, but have always eluded us on Thanksgiving.

So that left us at eight species with a few stops to go. We headed over to the Mill Pond in Norwalk and immediately a Eurasian Wigeon stood out from the crowd among a few dozen American Wigeon. The faraway visitor sometimes joins flocks of American Wigeon but it had been years since I had seen one around here. Male Eurasian Wigeon have brownish red heads as opposed to the green heads of their American cousins. I certainly didn't expect to find one on this day so I was feeling very confident about our chances at reaching 10 duck species this year.

Certainly we'd nail a new species or two across the street at Veterans Park, I thought, foolishly trying to predict nature. Scaup, that elusive Red-breasted Merganser or perhaps a Long-tailed duck would be over there, I said confidently. As a point of clarification for our duck hunt, it must be a duck species -- not loons, geese, swans or other fowl. That would make it too easy.

We went around the half circle at Veterans Park. Nothing. Our eyes were peeled on the water on the way back out. Nothing.

I glanced at the clock and realized it was already way past the time we were supposed to be home. Calf Pasture Beach likely would have yielded something new, perhaps a Long-tailed Duck or Goldeneye, but we simply didn't have time to check it out. No worries, I thought, I'll check out Pear Tree Point on the way back and certainly there will be a Red-breasted Merganser in the river. Nothing.

Oh well, nine species. Not bad. It gives us something to strive for next year.

For the Birds runs Thursdays in The Hour. Chris Bosak can be reached at bozclark@earthlink.net. Visit his website at www.birdsofnewengland.com.