Centre County Waterfowl

The rainy weather made perfect conditions for some waterfowling here in Center County today, so around 9:45am, Anna Fasoli and I headed to Bald Eagle State Park. We were instantly greeted by 14 Tundra Swans, and the largest raft of waterfowl I have seen at BESP. We were able to find 12 species of waterfowl at BESP. A complete list is below some photos from today all taken by Anna Fasoli.

Tundra Swans

Adult Cooper's Hawk
Strange Canada Goose with spectacles and white patch on forehead

Bonaparte's Gull
Female Greater Scaup
Ruddy Ducks
Horned Grebe

4th year Bald Eagle

Waterbirds Seen:

Canada Goose 106 70 @ swimming beach, 36 @ Lower Greens Run; one had strange markings on face - like spectacles
Tundra Swan 141 - 14 @ swimming beach, 97 @ the dam, 30 @ Lower Greens Run
Canvasback 5 - 2 male, 3 female @ dam
Ring-necked Duck 9 - 1 male, 8 female @ dam
Greater Scaup 1 - 1 female @ swimming beach
Lesser Scaup 10 - 2 male and 4 female @ dam, 1 male and 3 female @ Lower Greens Run
Black Scoter 4 - 4 female @ Lower Greens Run
Long-tailed Duck 14 - 10 males and 4 females @ the dam
Bufflehead 119 - 8 male and 7 female-type @ swimming beach, 48 male and 27 female-type @ dam, 14 male and 15 female-type @ Lower Greens Run
Common Merganser (North American) 2 - 2 female-type @ dam
Red-breasted Merganser 1 - 1 nonbreeding plumage male @ dam swimming with 2 COME
Ruddy Duck 90 - 13 male and 15 female @ swimming beach, 11 male and 11 female @ dam, 20 male and 20 female @ Lower Greens Run
Common Loon 2 1 adult @ swimming beach, 1 adult @ Lower Greens Run
Horned Grebe 7 - 4 adults and 1 juv @ swimmning beach, 1 adult @ winter boat launch, 1 adult @ dam

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Next stop was Colyer Lake where we found 2 White-winged Scoters, and lots of other waterfowl including the following:

Mallard 7 - 6 males, 1 female
Canvasback 6 - 3 male, 3 female
Lesser Scaup 5 - 3 male, 2 female
White-winged Scoter 2 - 2 adult male
Bufflehead 6 - 5 male, 1 female
Red-breasted Merganser 8 - 8 female-type
Ruddy Duck 18 - 9 male, 9 female
Pied-billed Grebe 7 - 7 adults

Long-tailed Ducks, Canvasbacks, and White-winged ScotersClose-up of the White-winged Scoters

I added 6 species to my Centre County list today, bringing the total up to 175.