I tried today at Truitt's Landing but had no luck, and wanted to update in case any other folks may want to try this weekend.  I wish I had got there earlier in the day.  While I was looking, there was a lot of heat shimmer (despite the frigind temps!) and there were no teal visible.  It may not have mattered since others found teal earlier in the morning but were unsuccessful with finding a Common.  I talked to some folks who were there early and they saw a large flock of teal, but due to the cold much of the water present is frozen which was problematic for viewing for two reasons.  The open water is very distant from the road, and also it has concentrated the birds into a small area making for tight bunching and little movement.  Plus, the other birds included about 100 Canada and 15 Tundra Swans which make it very difficult to see smaller birds among them.

I was there about two hours.  I arrived at 11:35, and after a while we finally observed one flock of about 60-70 teal passing by, and they showed interest in landing at the open water area, but the teal found the conditions unfavorable and kept going.  We saw several small groups (8-20) pass by also.  We looked at the fly-bys the best we could but nothing jumped out as a possibility.  It was difficult to look carefully due to the biting cold wind.  Very hard on the eyes!

After the folks left I saw a big teal group land out on Brockatonorton Bay, north of the landing.  There were about 110 teal, and with my scope I was able to scan them well enough, but saw no Common Teal.

After that I left and looked at Taylors Landing, but saw very few birds present there, only a few gulls.

I would say with the cold temps that conditions there may worsen, and if anyone wants to try for the Common Teal they should try to focus on any area near there with open wwater.  Good luck!

Jeff Shenot
Croom Md