Northern Pintail

January 26, 2012  2:00 pm

In the morning, I took cousin Anne to the Montfort for a test.  Instead of waiting around, I went to the Rideau Tennis Club to look for the Barrow's Goldeneye.

The ice was closing in forcing the ducks to be closer than I have ever seen them before.  There were relatively few Common Goldeneye, and no Barrow's.

At noon I checked with Connie, Peter, Bob & Rick to see if anyone wanted to move their Manotick trip ahead, since poor weather was in the forecast for Friday.  But nobody could manage that, so I went on my own since I was too busy on Friday to attend.

At first I could not see it, so called Dave Sangster, the homeowner on Westriver Drive who had reported it and posted a photo on Facebook..  He had it until 11 am when it left in the direction of the bridge.

On his suggestion, I went back across the bridge and approached from behind the strip mall.  I spotted it heading towards the bridge!  So I immediately returned to the West River Drive side and there it was, coming towards me. I went towards it along the bank and we met halfway.  I also did see a male Common Merganser, a few American Black Ducks and the white-fronted Mallard.  I even had a muskrat on the edge of the ice.

Glad I went today!