Subject: [Tweeters] Duck (Anseriformes) Challenge
Date: Jan 23 09:38:09 2008
From: Kathy Andrich - chukarbird at yahoo.com



Hi Tweeters,

Could a Tweeters or two top 33 species of ducks, geese
and swans in one day? I thought this was a cool post
and a great idea to include the photography as
documentation. I got permission from Carlo to forward
this onto Tweeters. He forwarded to me a post he kept
from Gary Bletsch where Gary and Jim McCoy saw 31
species in one day. If only we had some oddball
species visiting it would be toppable but I haven't
heard much about Tufted Ducks, or Falcated Ducks, or
Baikal Teal, or an Eider lately. Or Whooper Swan or
the American Black Duck (lately) but we do have
Emperor Geese. Any challengers out there?

<><><><><><><><><><><><>
[bcvanbirds] Big Duck Shoot . . . . . a saga of 'tick
'n click'

Readers of Vanbirds may recall that on Mar 6th 2005,
the Birding World
was stunned by news (Vanbirds post #8711) that a team
of local
twitchers had observed and photographed a total of 31
species of
waterfowl in a single day. At the time we thought that
record would
never be touched, but we were wrong. Last year a group
from
Washington equaled our count. Although they did not
take photos, we
felt the record was not secure, so consequently set
out to rectify
the situation. After submitting a request for decent
weather and
finding a replacement for an original team member who
was not
available, we began our quest just after dawn on
Sunday morning (Jan 20).

With a bit of previous scouting, some careful
planning, and just a tad
of good fortune, things went well for most of the day
. . . . but
there were some moments. The Long-tailed Duck and
Ruddy Ducks that
had been hanging very close in at the White Rock Pier
were not there,
and we had to locate them offshore and settle for more
distant photos.
At our second major stop, we pulled up beside a field
full of swans
and geese, but with fog so thick we couldn't see
across the ditch. It
appeared for a moment that our goose was cooked and no
record would be
possible. However, as we exited from the car the fog
began to lift as
if being sucked up by the Birding Gods, and within a
few minutes Peter
was able to fire off the required shots. Next target
was the drake
Redhead at Surrey Lake, which, as it turned out, was
not there. But
even before we got to the lake Ilya spotted him in the
pond on the
adjacent golf course. Gradually we managed to locate
and shoot all
but one of our targets; the Cinnamon Teal which had
been sporadically
sighted from the Westham Island bridge could not be
located on this
day despite three tries. Our last 'tick 'n click' was
Snow Goose at
Reifel at about 2 pm, a mere 6 hours after the start
of our odyssey.
All the fowl shot were found in White Rock, Surrey,
and Delta,
requiring a minimum of driving, hence keeping things
as 'green' as
could be expected for an achievement of such
magnitude.

With a total of 33 species observed and photographed
we now claim a
new World Record (until proven wrong), and further
confirmation that
the BC Lower Mainland is the Waterfowl Capital of
America. A list of
species sighted can be seen in the Vanbirds files
section under "Big
Duck Shoot '08". All photos were taken by Peter, who
put on an
impressive display of fast and accurate shooting with
his hand-held
digital SLR 'canon'. Ilya and George were quick to
spot our targets,
and I (Carlo) kept the tally. We challenge all comers
to try and best
this record.

Images of the birds can be seen at
http://www.flickr. com/photos/ 15165348 at N06/sets/
7215760376948372 9/

Carlo Giovanella, Surrey,
for 'Team Odd Ducks'
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>





Kathy
Roosting in Kent, near Lake Meridian
(chukarbird at yahoo dot com)


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