Tweets,

I'm agog as I write this. Right now, happily paddling in the 30 foot by 225
foot cement stormwater tank just below the house are 33 Ring-necked ducks
(22 male/11 female) and 3 Green-winged teal (all male). The Ring-neckeds
are diving and coming up with some type of vegetation and what appear to be
some big snails? The Teal are cleaning up scraps.

I'm guessing that after 5 years of being in place the storage tank must now
have adequate siltation on the bottom to support some vegetation and/or
enough nutrients to support good algal growth. While peeking over the edge
of the tank (I got to within 10 feet of the birds without flushing them) I
could see at least 4 goldfish swimming around as well.

These are the 5th and 6th species of duck I've had in this outwardly sterile
body of water - I've previously had Mallard, Wood duck, Bufflehead, and
Hooded merganser.


Rob Conway
Newcastle, WA

robin_birder at hotmail.com