Bantam Lake Finally Freezes Over!

Bantam Lake's Outlet as viewed from the

Pt. Folly observation platform in a photo

taken by Ashley Hayes 5 weeks before the rest

of the Lake iced-over on 1/16/2012

Bald Eagles, photo by Paul Fusco from

www.paulfuscowildlifephotography.com

Canada Geese photo by Bob Stanowski

Mallard photo from www.wikimedia.org

Northern Pintail photo by Tom Munson

from www.fishandgameidaho.gov

As of yesterday, 1/16/2012, most of Bantam Lake had frozen over. This is amazingly late! As usual, the Outlet and the Bantam River downstream all the way to Rt. 209 has remained ice-free. This is typical except in the most severely cold winters. Though much of the waterfowl that had been seen daily at the Lake so far this winter left in the past 3 days, huge numbers of Canada Geese and Mallards, along with fair numbers of American Black Ducks and Ring-necked Ducks, 3 Lesser Scaup, a Northern Pintail, 3 Hooded Mergansers, and at least 101 American Coots have remained in the open water of the Outlet. The geese and Mallards have fallen into a winter activity mode of foraging in cornfields in Litchfield, Morris, Bethlehem, Warren, and Goshen by day, and roosting at the Outlet from sunset until sunrise. Thus, it is best to look for these birds either from the N. Shore Rd. bridge over the Bantam River or the Pt. Folly observation platform between 7 and 8 a.m. or 4 and 5:30 p.m. Any other time of day will produce a lot less. This has been highlighted by our counts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The morning observations, made by Mike Doyle, produced counts of 725, 500, 800, and 800 Canada Geese and 3, 52, 5, and 13 Mallards for these 4 days, respectively. John Eykelhoff didn't find more than 65 Canada Geese and 10 Mallards on his noon-time visits here these days. However, Jim Kandefer and I counted 1,075 Canada Geese and 500 Mallards coming in to roost here between 4:30 p.m. and dark on Monday, and Jim Dugan and I counted 675 Canada Geese and 175 Mallards doing the same thing during the same time frame on Wednesday. No evening counts were conducted on Tuesday or Thursday. During both evening counts, more geese and Mallards flew in from the north than from the south. We didn't see any fly in from the east or west. It doesn't appear as though many of the 65 American Black Ducks that we saw come in Wednesday evening stayed, as only 9 were counted at the Outlet the next morning. We haven't been able to relocate the hen Northern Pintail that we saw Monday evening. The numbers of American Coots and Lesser Scaup have been dropping steadily all week as these birds exit the area. Greg Hanisek saw a Greater Scaup there Wednesday mid-morning, but we haven't been able to find that bird again. Some birds do only drop in to rest here for a few hours before moving on. As many as 4 Bald Eagles hanging around the Outlet at various times has also been a disincentive for some birds to stay here. It will be interesting to see what the rest of the winter brings.

Bantam Lake Waterbird Update, 12/15/2011

Bantam Lake's Pt. Folly Marina photographed

by Ashley Hayes on 12/10/2011, showing

that it is still completely ice-free

Lesser Scaup photo from www.utdallas.edu

Hooded Merganser photo by Bob Stanowski

Common Goldeneye photo by

Micahel Woodruff from www.fishandgameidaho.gov

Bufflehead photo from www.flyways.us

A significant increase in waterfowl migration activity has occurred at Bantam Lake in the past week. This coincides with more and more reports of ponds and portions of lakes in Vermont, upstate New York, Quebec, and Ontario icing over. Unlike last year, and many other past years, Bantam Lake was still ice-free as of this morning, 12/15/2011. Relatively mild conditions since early November are the reason for this. While several nights have seen temperatures dip into the 20's, and a couple of recent nights saw temperatures go down into the teens, this has not been enough for ice to form on the Lake. Cemetery Pond and our marshes have iced-over a few times, but they usually opened-up again when daytime temperatures climbed into the 40's. This has been great for waterfowl, as it has provided them with plenty of foraging area. Species which have increased the most in the past week have included Ring-necked Duck (43 on the 13th), Bufflehead (31 on the 13th), Common Goldeneye (35 on the 13th), Hooded Merganser (53 on the 13th), and Common Merganser (55 on the 13th). Also of note were 6 Gadwall on the 13th, 2 Northern Shovelers almost every day, 2 Northern Pintails on the 14th, 4 Lesser Scaup on the 13th, 2 White-winged Scoters on the 8th, a Long-tailed Duck on the 9th, a Ruddy Duck on the 11th, a Red-throated Loon on the 7th, Pied-billed Grebes on several days, and a Red-necked Grebe on the 11th and 12th. In addition, as many as 87 American Coots have been seen daily at the Lake's North Bay. At this point it should be noted that the vast majority of these sightings have come from N. Bay and Pt. Folly. South Bay has produced virtually nothing, and the central section has mainly yielded fish-eating divers. It should also be noted that this number and diversity of waterbirds is above average for so late in the migration season here, even in other years when the Lake has remained ice-free. This could be a product of generally mild conditions all over the northeast, more birds because of their highly successful breeding activity last summer, or an abundance of food at Bantam Lake. Most likely, it is a combination of these things. Whatever it is, we are hopeful that these birds will stay around for the Christmas Bird Count on the 18th, and that a few more will join them. As it is, all of the sightings from today are in the official count period. If you go out to look for these birds, please report your observations to ebird, and share them with the White Memorial Archives.

Waterbird Migration Picks Up

Horned Grebe photo by Nancy Johnston

from www.nejohnston.org

Common Gallinule photo by Darlene Knox

Northern Shoveler photo by Paul Fusco

from www.PaulFuscoWildlifePhotography.com

Ruddy Duck photo from www.en.wikipedia.org

Surf Scoter photo by Paul Fusco

from www.PaulFuscoWildlifePhotography.com

Black Scoters photo by Paul Fusco

from www.PaulFuscoWildlifePhotography.com

Migration activity by waterbirds has really picked up in northwest Connecticut since 10/15. Since Bantam Lake and Little Pond are two of the best places in this part of the state to see waterbirds I and many other birders have been checking them almost daily this month. During this time we have been seeing a steady stream of Mallards, American Black Ducks, Wood Ducks, and Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal moving through. This past Tuesday, 10/18, they were joined by a pair of Northern Shovelers at Little Pond. Because the male is exhibiting a very distinctive transitional molt plumage we are sure that the pair of shovelers that we saw at Bantam Lake's Pt. Folly on the 21st and 23rd and back at Little Pond on the 20th and 22nd were the same birds. During this same time span the number of American Coots visiting Little Pond increased to 62. On 10/19 and 20 Mike Doyle saw a Common Gallinule mixed in with them. Mike, and later, Ray Belding also saw 5 White-winged Scoters at this pond on the 20th. This has been a good period of time to find scoters (as it usually is) because Mike saw White-winged, Black, and Surf Scoters on Bantam Lake on the 20th. Two days later, Samantha Foster and I saw a Black and a Surf Scoter on the Lake's N. Bay, along with a Horned Grebe feeding close to Litchfield Town Beach. That day also produced 2 American Wigeons for us at Pt. Folly. The wigeons were still there the next day when John and Tracy Eykelhoff joined me to look for ducks. We also saw a Surf and a White-winged Scoter swimming together in the Lake's central section. Every day during this period has produced between one and four Ruddy Ducks on Little Pond, and a couple of reports of up to 11 of them on Bantam Lake. Other species of water-oriented birds seen on these bodies of water during the past week have included an American Bittern at Little Pond, Common Mergansers, Pied-billed Grebes, quite a few Great Blue Herons and Double-crested Cormorants, an Osprey at Bantam Lake's S. Bay, Belted Kingfishers, and lots of Canada Geese and Ring-billed Gulls. The next 6 weeks should bring even more waterbirds moving through here.