Bl.-bellied Whistling-Duck breeding at WR

[chris runk]

Blundered onto an entire family of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks in the Old Fish Hatchery beaver pond this AM! First seen in the deepest water right at the dam near the entrance gate, the adult (presumably female) lead six little VERY striped ducklings into the grass as soon as I was spotted. I'm not sure this species has been found breeding at White Rock Lake, although sightings of adults on the east side seem to be increasing. It will be interesting to see if the little ones make it and appear on the open water soon... Chris

[betsy]

This morning I interpreted "the dam near the entrance gate" to mean the one next to the little bridge (if it's actually a bridge and not pipe conduits) right after the entrance gate -- the one the creek flows under. Turns out that was an incorrect interpretation. Chris means the upper dam that forms the pond, which you get to by taking the left path that occurs before the main crossroads where the first bench is. I didn't get that far this morning (too many skeeters and no DEET!).