Winter Waterfowl Survey--November 2012

A total of 292 Canada Goose were observed on Bantam Lake, Nov. 28, 2012.
Photo By Bob Stanowski.

Nicki Hall and I conducted the first Winter Waterfowl Survey for the winter season 2012-2013 on Wednesday, 28 Nov. 2012 from 10:08 a.m. - 2:02 p.m.  The sky was partly cloudy gradually become overcast with a gentle breeze mostly from the north and gradually changing from the north-northwest.  The temperature for most of the survey was in the high 40's degree Fahrenheit.  The water remained calm and the birds were not disturbed by any other factors, therefore counting the birds was quite easy.  We observed several large rafts of Canada Goose, Mallard, Hooded Merganser, and American Coot.  We did not observe any neck collars on the Canada Goose, which are applied and used by CT DEEP Wildlife Division for monitoring local goose populations.  Other noteworthy non-waterfowl species observed included 1 Great-Blue Heron, 1 American Bald Eagle juvenile, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk juvenile, and 1 Belted Kingfisher.  The only ice cover observed that affected the bird's usage of any water-body was at Cemetery Pond and Little Pond, where few if any birds were observed.  We count from a total of 8 other sites around Bantam Lake, of which the highest abundance of birds and greatest diversity of species were observed in the North Bay and the Bantam River Outlet, two favorite bird-watching locations among our birders.  Although not as many individual birds were observed in the South Bay, this location did produce 4 species, another noteworthy location among birders.

Species	Grand Total
Canada Goose	292
Mute Swan	15
American Black Duck	19
Mallard	168
Ring-necked Duck	1
Bufflehead	39
Common Goldeneye	1
Hooded Merganser	120
Common Merganser	1
Ruddy Duck	12
Common Loon	1
American Coot	61
Ring-billed Gull	10
Herring Gull	2