Friday, January 7, 2011

A ducky day at Stratford Point

A cold night, slight haze and no wind created perfect viewing conditions of the Long Island Sound from Stratford Point yesterday. Although we already know that there are a lot of ducks in the area, it was quite amazing to be able see every duck, loon and grebe in at least a half a mile radius. As hunters were putting the thousands of scaup and scoter on the other side of the pensinula in motion, we were treated to quite the spectacle as flocks of these ducks continuously moved in and out of the area. Apart from the sheer number of birds present (many thousands could be seen in a matter of minutes at times) there were also some unusual species to be found. The two female King Eider that have been associated with the scaup/scoter flock for a few weeks now are still present and a Eurasian Wigeon has been seen near shore at Stratford Point for the last few days.

Male Eurasian Wigeon accompanied by two female American Wigeon at Stratford Point

A group of Greater Scaup fly towards the large flock located off Cove Place, on the west side of Stratford Point


American Wigeon are present in good numbers as well

A hunter flushes hundreds of ducks just before sunset

Photographs by Twan Leenders

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful shots! We invite you to add your post to our wildlife map at http://yourwildlifestories.com/index.php

    TY!!!

    ReplyDelete