Tag Archives: waterfowl

Cherry Hill – Part 1

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When I visit my daughter in Massachusetts, I often try to go birding with Ginger at Cherry Hill Reservoir. We spent a few good hours on a chilly morning last Thursday. Here are a few of the waterfowl we saw.

Buffleheads were everywhere – dozens of them.

There were also a number of Scaup – I’m calling them Lesser due to the rounded head.

Scaup and a Bufflehead

Ruddy Ducks are often here, in large rafts, resting. They are delightful to watch as they dive and re-appear, usually farther away.

We had a great hike and saw 33 species. I’ll include more in the next post. Happy migration birding.

Buffleheads Coming & Going

We are going through a patch of crappy weather with spitting rain and temperatures in the high 30’s or low 40’s.  It’s good wood fire weather and not much fun fiddling with tripods, scopes, and cameras.  But, hey, it’s Vermont in November so suck it up and get out there.

Yesterday I took a look at some local bodies of water for new arrivals but only ran into Black Scoters  and these nine Bufflehead way out on Wrightsville Reservoir.

The nice thing about Bufflehead, aside from their “spiffiness,” is that they tend to cruise along and not dive and disappear like Hooded Mergansers.

I went back early this morning to Wrightsville and found only a solo male floating away on the deserted reservoir.  Was he new?  Did his buddies leave without him?  We’ll never know but I suspect he’ll be on his way on the north winds we are getting today.  He’s come a long way from his breeding grounds and still has a way to go before winter.  Neat little birds — great to have them around for a while.