Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Duck Count - November 20, 2021

 The 12th Annual Plymouth County Waterfowl Survey (better known as the duck count) was held on November 20, 2021. This was my first year leading this event, which had previously been run by Joe Scott. Many thanks to Joe for setting up this event and for all your hard work over the last several years!

We had 35 participants who split up into teams to cover all of the major freshwater ponds in Plymouth County. Thank you to everyone who participated and thanks to Pete, Lisa, Kathy, and Nate for your help recruiting and organizing the teams.

We had a clear, calm day with a high of 44°F. We’ve had very few cold days so far this year, so none of the ponds have frozen over yet. This can sometimes lead to lower numbers for the count, as freezing temperatures in northern New England or further inland can push ducks into our milder area. However, overall numbers for many species this year were pretty close to our long-term averages since the count began in 2010.

In addition to the usual species, we also had a few uncommon sightings this year. The Northwest team found 3 Northern Shovelers on Furnace Pond. This species was a lifer for Bonnie and also a first for me in my hometown of Pembroke. We also found a Common Goldeneye X Hooded Merganser on Great Sandy Bottom Pond. This makes 5 years in a row that this beautiful and unusual hybrid has been in the area.

Northern Shovelers by Bonnie Tate

The Marion Water Treatment Plant is under construction currently, but Carol got special permission to visit and found a Blue-winged Teal. Hank and Jill found a Greater White-fronted Goose at the Vaughan Hill Rd fields in Rochester. They credited a pair of Bald Eagles with scaring it into the water so it could be included in our official tally. A Cackling Goose had also been reported in that area recently, but it was absent on the day of the count.

Greater White-fronted Goose by Hank Levesque

Glenn and Ernie found a White-winged Scoter on Assawompsett Pond. Any sea ducks are unusual for this event, as we only cover freshwater ponds, but we do occasionally get a scoter or Long-tailed Duck on some of the largest ponds.

The tally was held virtually this year via Zoom. Several participants dialed in to go over the highlights for each team, review the final numbers, and swap stories. Hopefully we can get back to doing an in-person tally next year.

The full list of waterfowl species for this year is below:

Greater White-fronted Goose

1

Canada Goose

1,391

Mute Swan

295

Wood Duck

5

Gadwall

160

American Wigeon

83

American Black Duck

206

Mallard

1,315

Blue-winged Teal

1

Northern Shoveler

3

Northern Pintail

6

Green-winged Teal

82

Ring-necked Duck

766

Greater Scaup

95

Lesser Scaup

59

Scaup sp

72

Bufflehead

647

Common Goldeneye

127

Hooded Merganser

373

Common Merganser

97

Ruddy Duck

100

White-winged Scoter

1

Common Loon

3

Pied-billed Grebe

42

Horned Grebe

6

American Coot

28

Total Ducks

4,222

Total Waterfowl

5,988

Thanks again to all participants and the team captains!

Brian Vigorito