Subject: Wood Ducks
Date: Dec 3 23:59:31 1994
From: "McCloskey, Lawrence R" - mcclla at wwc.edu


Dennis mentions the abundance of Woodies in the ponds below Ross' Gull
Dam (I herewith have changed its name...who was McNary anyway?). Today I
birded a similar habitat upriver: the seldom-birded (I think) Hood Park,
located on the bank of the Snake River just upriver from where the Snake
empties into the Columbia River. The park is "closed" for the winter,
but one can park at the entrance and walk in. There is a "natural" area
in the park just northeast of the manicured campsite road, with three
small woodland ponds frequented only by an occasional fisherman, which is
even better habitat than the comparably artificial habitat below McNary
Dam. As I walked through there today I flushed the largest flock of Wood
Ducks I have ever seen in one locality. I tried counting by groups of
four, and will not stake my life on the precision of my numbers, but I
came up with 204 birds! It was a stunning site. It would be nice to
know if these large numbers are a local phenomenon, or reflect a very
good year for Woodies area-wide.
Larry McCloskey {mcclla at wwc.edu}