I have to agree with Dave Mozurkewich that sometimes counting waterfowl just feels too much like work.  Nonetheless, I too 
decided to try my hand at it yesterday (December 8).

At 8:30 yesterday morning my dog and I checked out Greenbelt Lake.  I did a quick estimate of the birds on the lake (it had to be 
quick, since my dog is young and has all four of her legs, so she likes to keep moving) and came up with 300+ Canada Geese, 
100+ Mallards, and only 2 Hooded Mergansers (both males).  Later, around 2:00, I stopped by again (without the dog) and 
found that the numbers of Canadas and Mallards had increased dramatically - way too many to count or even estimate, given 
that I was looking into the sun.  I did manage to find about 20 Hooded Mergansers widely scattered over the lake, 3-4 Pied-
billed Grebes, 2 Ruddy Ducks, and 1 Ring-necked Duck.

Then I went to Lake Artemesia in College Park.  The waterfowl were much less concentrated there, which I found surprising, 
since the area of open water (without ice) was much larger than it was at Greenbelt Lake.  Since the birds were fewer and more 
spread out, I decided to do an actual count.  Here's what I came up with:

147  Canada Geese
  74  Ruddy Ducks
  72  Ring-necked Ducks
 16   American Coots
 16   Mallards
   2   Pied-billed Grebes
   1   Wood Duck (female)

These two lakes are only about two miles apart (as the crow flies), yet the numbers of the waterfowl species are quite different.  
So, I have to admit that often it can be quite revealing to try to count or estimate the numbers, rather than relying on a sort of 
general impression.

Elaine Hendricks
Greenbelt, MD  (PG County)
   

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