My wife, Beth and I got out to do our semi-regular sweep through a series of Sharon/Salisbury ponds in NW Litchfield Co. Mudge Pond in Sharon was unremarkable with a small flock of Hooded Mergansers and little else. The star, as per usual, was Wononpakook (also known locally as Long Pond) in Lakeville. We tallied over 800 ducks of 11 species. This pond attracts large numbers of Ring-necked Ducks, sometimes over 1,000. Today we counted 360, but they were much closer than they often are. In the flock were 4 Redheads. There were also 233 Ruddy Ducks. Three American Wigeon were notable. To the north, Lake Wononskopomuc in Lakeville had very little on it, but what was there was interesting. For about three weeks, there have been 2 female Surf Scoters present. Today 1 Surf Scoter continued and was joined, to our surprise, by a female Black Scoter. Initially they were grouped with a lone Ruddy Duck, but the Black Scoter soon began foraging on its own along the east shore until nearly out of sight. These ducks were viewed from the town beach/boat launch (the only real access point to this lake). With any luck, the scoters will stick for the Christmas Count! On the subject of scoters, I see that 2 White-winged Scoters continue on Bantam Lake. The location is always given as "Bantam Lake," but it's a big place. Can anyone tell me where on the lake these are being seen? Thanks and best to all, George -- George E. Wallace Salisbury, CT

Scoters continue, Redheads are gone. Less Ring-necked Ducks too (245), but still plenty of variety. Paul Smith New Haven Sent from my iPhone > On Nov 30, 2023, at 4:53 PM, George Wallace via CTBirds <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> wrote: > > My wife, Beth and I got out to do our semi-regular sweep through a series > of Sharon/Salisbury ponds in NW Litchfield Co. Mudge Pond in Sharon was > unremarkable with a small flock of Hooded Mergansers and little else. The > star, as per usual, was Wononpakook (also known locally as Long Pond) in > Lakeville. We tallied over 800 ducks of 11 species. This pond attracts > large numbers of Ring-necked Ducks, sometimes over 1,000. Today we counted > 360, but they were much closer than they often are. In the flock were 4 > Redheads. There were also 233 Ruddy Ducks. Three American Wigeon were > notable. To the north, Lake Wononskopomuc in Lakeville had very little on > it, but what was there was interesting. For about three weeks, there have > been 2 female Surf Scoters present. Today 1 Surf Scoter continued and was > joined, to our surprise, by a female Black Scoter. Initially they were > grouped with a lone Ruddy Duck, but the Black Scoter soon began foraging on > its own along the east shore until nearly out of sight. These ducks were > viewed from the town beach/boat launch (the only real access point to this > lake). With any luck, the scoters will stick for the Christmas Count! > > On the subject of scoters, I see that 2 White-winged Scoters continue on > Bantam Lake. The location is always given as "Bantam Lake," but it's a big > place. Can anyone tell me where on the lake these are being seen? > > Thanks and best to all, George > -- > George E. Wallace > Salisbury, CT > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send an email with just "join" or "leave" in the subject or body to: ctbirds-request@lists.ctbirding.org > > CTBirds, a service of Connecticut Ornithological Association - Bringing birders together statewide. Please support COA: https://www.ctbirding.org/join-us/ > > CTBirds is for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. For list rules and subscription information visit: https://www.ctbirding.org/birds-birding/ct-birds-email-list/