I was planning to complete my Capitol Lake waterfowl survey on Wednesday. Looks like Ryan Shaw already
completed it. I'll do it anyway, if nothing else so I can hopefully see the Redhead. Today, there were
two Redheads, male and female, on Clear Lake in Thurston County, Washington. These were a surprise
and the highlight of my day (though I enjoyed how incredibly gorgeous it was once I got away from
Olympia. Yelm, Clear Lake, Lawrence Lake were all bathed in sunshine. Yes!

I started out my afternoon by returning to a small pond in Vista Village near Long Lake in Thurston County.
The fog was still thick in this area and the ducks I hope to find were not present. On Sunday there
were about 40 wigeon and 30 mallards and 1 Aix thingy. I tentatively identified it as a female Wood
Duck but I was a little uncertain because the white marking around the eye was a thin line extending
back from the eye. I didn't refer to any books until I was home and, then, I noticed that the female
Mandarin duck has eyes markings more closely matching what I had seen. So now I am committed to go back
until I can get a better look at this bird. I have a fair number of references but I cannot find a really
good picture of a female Mandarin or a good description of characteristics to consider when trying to
decide if I am looking at a Wood Duck or a Mandarin Duck. I did some web searches and came up with quite
a few pictures of male Mandarins but not a single female. Any advice would be appreciated (if I lived
closer to Chuck Pillings, I would drive over and get a first hand look at both species... at least he
was breeding both species back in my college days).


Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Olympia WA