The Delaware Otsego Audubon Society Lake Otsego Waterfowl Trip

Everyone agreed it was a great birding trip.

     The day didn’t start out very well at all. I had accidentally set my alarm for 6PM rather than 6AM. It was only by happenstance that I awoke at 6:30; still I’d been counting on those extra thirty minutes to get my things together and also stop to buy gas. I’d have to rush if I hoped to make it to Cooperstown on time. To make matters worse the conditions for birding were not favorable at all. It was rainy. I’d just have to dress for the weather as best I could. Outside the melting snow had turned the rivers and creeks into raging torrents and the lakes were still frozen over from one of our coldest winters ever. I wondered if we’d even be able to find any waterfowl under those conditions and I was beginning to question my sanity for going birding that morning.

     When I arrived at Otsego Lake there was a nice gathering of birders looking for waterfowl by the docks. While they stood around talking I climbed into the backseat of my car to slip on a pair of padded nylon ski pants over the thin cotton slacks I was wearing. Wishful thinking had me hoping that the 50 degree weather we had the day before would persist through that day as well so I could get away with wearing just my thin slacks. No such luck. The rain was turning into snow.

      I didn’t have enough time to see what birds were in the water before everyone split up into groups to leave. Four of us got into one car and we were off.

     Our first stop was at the far end of the golf course. A pond there was somewhat clear of ice. Coot and a bufflehead were swimming around in the water. Mallards were walking around on the land and in a little stream, that fed into the pond, were a pair of common mergansers. One member of our group said she'd spied a wigeon with her scope. I looked around for it with my binoculars, but I couldn’t find it. It turns out she was looking at the shoreline behind the Otesaga about a third of a mile away. The wigeon appeared to have a red head, but at that distance, with the drizzle coming down and the cold fogging up the lens, it was difficult to tell. We decided that checking out its identity would have to wait until we came back from the trip.

     Our next stop was at the Biological Field Station. The lake was frozen over there and except for a couple of Canada geese on the ice and a black duck on the shore there were no other waterfowl. Further out from shore an immature bald eagle was seen standing on the ice next to the carrion of some animal that had died out there. The eagle flew off when it saw us.

     As we were returning to our car one of our members pointed to a raptor flying just over our heads. It was a cooper’s hawk carrying a bird that it had apparently caught for its lunch. We pointed the raptor out to the people behind us who smiled mischievously and asked if we had identified the bird it was carrying.

      We stopped next at a bald eagle’s nest located on private property which we had received permission to access. Eagle’s nests are so cool just by their massive size which can get up to ten feet wide. You couldn’t see the eagle sitting on her eggs although I was told that if you looked through the scope you might be able to spot some of the black feathers on the back of the bird when the wind blew them high enough to be seen above the edge of the nest… okey dokey, I’ll take their word for it.

     A mature bald eagle was spotted flying in our direction. For a moment we thought we might just be lucky enough to watch the other parent bird returning to the nest. The eagle banked, soared down low over the lake and was gone.

     We drove to another golf course further down the lake. There’s a large pond there located near the road. We could see a great blue heron standing in the water across the pond as we made our way down the road and into the entrance of the golf course. Wood ducks, ring necked ducks and Canada geese were swimming out on the pond. After looking at them we then turned our attention to the ducks out on the lake. There were many species of waterfowl which we had already seen. A new bird for us there was a shoveler.

     The cold wind continued to whip around us and I was abruptly reminded that winter was still with us when my foot sunk down into twelve inches of snow. As we returned to the car we saw a greater scaup floating all by itself in the middle of the pond. Four turkey vultures were sitting in a tree close to the road as we pulled out of the golf course.

     We then drove up to Summit Lake. The lake looked frozen over and we had our doubts that we’d be able to find any birds there. Yet even though our side of the lake was frozen solid once we walked to the edge of the lake we could see that the opposite shore had ducks and geese swimming in open water. There was actually quite a nice variety of waterfowl. Some new birds for us there were green winged teal and a blue winged teal.

     While we were standing there looking through our scopes a couple of drake wood ducks came sailing across the lake and perched in the top of a tree near us. They stayed there for quite a while giving us some good looks at them. After we had ferreted out as many species of waterfowl as we could we climbed back in the car and headed to the next location.

     The snow, which had been falling on and off, had settled on some small pine trees turning the landscape into a setting perfect for a Christmas card, except this was April 4^th. The weather had been changeable all day. If you didn’t like the weather you only had to wait a few minutes and it would change. So it was that the sun was trying to come out as our cars pulled off the road across from a barn. Killdeer were running around in the field next to the barn and a large flock of black birds were gathered there. I had an idea  what the black birds were. There were robins and red-winged blackbirds, but the majority were rusty blackbirds, a lifer for me.

     After some good looks at the rusty blackbirds we got back on the road once more. As we drove along the cars ahead of us started to slow. We were approaching a pond. The spring runoff had overflowed the pond's banks and sent the water flooding across the road, but the flood wasn’t the reason for the slow down. There was a small bird in the middle of the road in front of it. I couldn’t see the bird very well from where I was sitting, but the others in the car said that it was wagging its tail profusely as it walked about. The bird flew off and a quick consultation with those who were in the other cars confirmed that it was an american pipit. The pond itself contained mostly canada geese with a few snow geese mixed in.

     Our last planned stop was Weaver Lake. The middle of the lake was still frozen which helped to keep the birds that were in the open water close to shore and easier to see. A drake common goldeneye was quickly identified in amongst the other birds on the lake. The wind was brutally cold. I was heading back to the car when someone said they’d found a lesser scaup. I needed a lesser scaup for my year’s birding list, but it was just too cold for me to go back and look for it. Eventually the rest of the group piled into the car and we headed to Cooperstown.

     We were driving alongside Otsego Lake following the lead car when they suddenly did a U-turn and started heading back in the opposite direction. “Should we follow them?” we asked. “Oh why not.”  We turned around and caught up with them down the road where they were looking at a beautiful pair of red-breasted mergansers swimming near the shore. The birds swam around for a bit then flew off.

     We again headed towards Cooperstown. Once we reached Cooperstown I asked if they still wanted to check out the wigeon that was seen earlier. We pulled into the parking lot by the Otesaga and walked down toward the lake. There were wigeons swimming at a distance and one appeared to have a red head. Then the birds actually flew closer to us so we could see them quite clearly. There was an american wigeon and there was a red headed wigeon which most definitely was a eurasian wigeon. Another bird was with the eurasian wigeon. The bird didn’t have clear colors or markings like the others. Then a debate about wigeons started over whether that bird might be a female eurasian or whether it was an immature eurasian or whether it might be a hybrid and whether the whistling noise a eurasian wigeon makes had a european or asian accent? Anyway, I looked over at the lady who originally spotted the wigeons from across the lake. She was beaming. It was a great find.

     In all we saw 19 species of waterfowl. Everyone agreed it was a great birding trip.