Hadley Cove waterfowl

Northern Pintails (and others), Hadley Cove, Jan 27, 2012

Northern Pintails, Black Ducks and Mallards, Hadley Cove, Jan 27, 2012

Following up on a report from Ian Davies of some good variety and numbers of waterfowl at Hadley Cove I stopped briefly this morning on the way to work in a very cold and steady rain.  I managed some great numbers and variety with a total of eight waterfowl species present in a very small area.  The sightings included:

Wood Duck 1 male
Gadwall 1 female
American Wigeon 1 female
American Black Duck 42

Mallard 190+

Northern Pintail 6 four males and two females
Green-winged Teal 1 female

Common Merganser 9 one male

I decided to try my luck back there again late afternoon to see if anything new arrived and possibly try to get a few photos while it was not raining.  On my afternoon stopped I added another species of waterfowl when a group of Canada Geese flew by.  There was a similar number of Mallards and Black Ducks as well as one Wood Duck.  The number of Northern Pintails had increased to eleven with seven males.  The other birds had either left or where hidden in the many areas here that cannot be readily viewed.  I also found a Belted Kingfisher successfully hunting the cove.  I took a few photos through the scope of the pintails but could not get any shots of the more unusual species.