On February 17th this year, I saw 750-1000 Wood Ducks at dusk at the grain elevators adjacent to Hoods Park in Burbank, Walla Walla county. There were probably 3000 ducks total, the rest being Mallards, all crowding the entire ground surface beneath the bins, with many more tightly packed in the water below. Strangely, the Wood Ducks would laboriously clamber up the steep grass slope from the water rather than flying.
On November 11, 2011, there were several hundred Wood Ducks (again with Mallards) at dusk at a grain elevator in Clarkston, Asotin county.
In both cases, I have no idea where they all were hiding during the day. Both of these notable sightings were at last light ? just before full dark, with the birds hard to make out in the gloom.
== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at frontier.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Paulson <dennispaulson at comcast.net>
To: Carol Riddell <cariddellwa at gmail.com>
Cc: TWEETERS tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sun, Apr 1, 2012 9:11 am
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Wood Ducks, Turkey Vultures and Osprey


Carol,

I'd call it a noteworthy number. I've seen Wood Ducks all my birding life and
all over their range and have never seen that many together! The largest number
I ever saw was perhaps 20 spread out over a couple of sewage ponds along hwy 14
east of Vancouver, WA, one day. I was impressed by that. Maybe southwestern WA
is an especially good area for the species.

Dennis
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net


On Mar 31, 2012, at 10:13 PM, Carol Riddell wrote:

> On my way home from Portland this afternoon I took time out for a walk in the
fields on the Dike Access Road near Woodland. There were hundreds of Cackling
Geese, lots of Mew Gulls, one Osprey in a tree near the Columbia (my first of
year), and a gathering of 30 Wood Ducks, mostly drakes but with a few hens. I
know this is not a noteworthy number but it is probably the largest flock I have
seen, so it was personally noteworthy and a delight to my eyes. At milepost 27
on I-5 I noted two Turkey Vultures, my first of year for Western Washington.
>
> Carol Riddell
> Edmonds
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters


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