The front came in early Sunday (April 1) morning. By 10 a.m. I had experienced rain, hail, snow, thunder and lighting at my house. Perfect weather for birding, right? Well, maybe not perfect weather for birders, but just the kind of spring weather that can fill Lake Junaluska with migrants overnight.

When it looked like the precipitation had ended, I called Beth Brinson and Bob Olthoff, and we met at the lake to see what the front had brought. There were a number of ducks on the lake.

There was one loose raft with seven different species of ducks. The greatest number of birds in this raft were red-breasted mergansers. There were three or four drakes and perhaps 20 or more hens. Red-breasted mergansers are large ducks (mallard sized). The drake has a green, crested head with a rusty colored breast separated by a white throat and a greenish-black back showing large white wing patches. The hen is dove-gray with a crested, rust colored head.

There were two drake lesser scaup and a number of hen lesser scaup in the group. The male lesser has a dark bluish to purple head with a black throat and chest and black tail. The back is gray and the sides are white, flecked with gray. The females are dark brown with a large white patch between the bill and the eye.

A small group of buffleheads made up part of the raft. The male was shinning in the sunlight with its white breast and flanks and large white head crest. The female is dark gray with a darker head with a conspicuous white cheek patch.

There were 100 or more blue-winged teal on the lake, some drifting along within the raft. The white crescent between the bill and eye of the bluish head of the drake is quite dramatic. The hen blue-winged is a small ( 15 to 16 inch) brown duck with a blue patch on the forewing.

Even smaller than the blue-winged is the green-winged teal. The diminutive drake is a grayish duck with a rusty brown head showing a green head patch. The hen is a tiny brown speckled duck showing a green patch (speculum) in the wing.

The dapper, hooded merganser was also present in the raft. The male hooded show a large white crest on its dark greenish black head. It has a white throat and rufous flanks. The back is dark. The female hooded is dark grayish-brown with a rusty colored crest. All mergansers show spike-like, hooked, serrated bills used for catching fish.

A few American widgeon were in the raft; larger groups were nearby. There were between 20 and 30 widgeon on the lake. The American widgeon was formerly known as baldpate because of the white crown atop a dark green head patch. The body is basically gray-brown with a white rump patch and black tail. The hen widgeon is brownish with a gray colored neck and head.

Northern shovelers were also present on the lake. These colorful ducks are sometimes called “smiling” mallards because of their green heads and large spatulate bill. The male has a green head, white throat and breast and rufous sides and shows a light blue patch on the forewing. The hen is mottled brown with the same spoon shaped bill and light blue forewing patch.

Also on the lake was a small group of double-crested cormorants. These large dark birds sit low in the water with their hooked beak tilted upwards. The males of this group were in breeding plumage shiny black with the double crests (tufts of feathers on each side of the head) prominent.

A couple of pied-billed grebes, one Bonaparte’s gull, one least sandpiper, two killdeer, about 10 greater yellowlegs and some northern rough-winged swallows were also recorded Sunday. Beth also reported that she had heard pine warblers singing earlier that morning along the Asbury Trail.

 

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