Stoney Creek (Wintergreen) 3/24/12

All photos are © Marshall Faintich


Heavy rains this morning and early afternoon put a damper on outside activities, but by mid-afternoon we got a break in the rain with bright sunny skies. Alice and I took a walk here in Stoney Creek, and I took my back-up camera with me - just in case. As we neared the end of our walk, we went by Lake Monocan, and I saw three ducks in the lake that looked like Mergansers to me, but I couldn't tell for sure. And then we saw two more ducks in the Sawmill Creek pond #3. As soon as we got home, I got my good camera and headed back to the lake. All three ducks were sleeping with their heads under their wings, so I still couldn't tell for sure what they were. I headed over to the pond, where I was able to see that the two ducks there were Wood Ducks, and then I walked back to Lake Monocan.

The ducks were on the other side of the lake from where I was, and near one of the golf course holes. I could hear golf carts crossing the wooden bridge to the nearby tee box, and hoped that the noise from the golfers would wake up the sleepy ducks. Not only did the noise wake them up, it also flushed out a couple of Mallards at the edge of the lake that flew away. The three ducks were Red-breasted Mergansers, one male and two females. The only other Red-breasted Mergansers I had seen before were a few females in Florida. So this raised my local Wintergreen area count to 171 species.


Wood Ducks


Red-breasted Mergansers and Mallard


Red-breasted Mergansers


Female Red-breasted Mergansers


Red-breasted Mergansers


Red-breasted Mergansers


Female Red-breasted Mergansers


Red-breasted Mergansers


Female Red-breasted Mergansers


Red-breasted Mergansers


Male Red-breasted Mergansers


Female Red-breasted Mergansers


Male Red-breasted Mergansers


Male Red-breasted Mergansers



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