Waterfowl continue to gather in numbers above the Wilder Dam at dusk, 
this evening assembling in the middle of the still ice-free impoundment 
opposite the playing fields.  When I arrived at 4:30 pm, there were 20 
Common and 45 Hooded mergansers, as well as an adult male White-winged 
Scoter.  Over 150 Mallards and 6 Am. Black Ducks were scattered along 
the NH bank.  Darkness fell quickly, and it became difficult to both 
identify and count birds, but mergansers arrived in pulses from both the 
north and south to join the loose flock.  Many Mallards and blacks also 
moved from the shoreline to the open water, and may have been joined by 
new arrivals.  By the time I left at 4:50, there were at least 40 
Commons and 85 Hoodeds, possibly many more.  It will be interesting to 
see at what point birds shift to roosting below the dam.  A few 
consecutive nights like tonight, and it may not take long!

One of these days I'll get out there before dawn to see how many birds 
actually congregate for the night, and what their morning dispersal 
patterns are...

Chris

-- 
Chris Rimmer
Vermont Center for Ecostudies
P.O. Box 420
Norwich, VT 05055
802-649-1431 ext. 1
www.vtecostudies.org

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