Early Blue-winged Teal

I still check the church pond every day but hadn't found anything different in the past couple of weeks. Until today.

I counted up the Mallards and herons and made sure I had the Grebe on the list. As I was about to leave the scene, I noticed a couple other birds in the reeds.



Sometimes I take shots and move on quickly when I have other chores to do and don't think too hard about the shots until I get a chance to see them on the computer. Once I got a full view, I could tell these were not your typical Mallards. The full black bills proved that but I was still scratching my head. The plumage was different, too.

I emailed my buddy, Paul, and he suggested what I was starting to suspect. Blue-winged Teal! This species does start arriving on the coast about this time but I have never seen any in Central Florida interiors this early before. I start seeing "Winter Ducks" in late October and into November.

Then again, I have only been finding these tiny ponds earlier this year. They are here then but who knew they were here this early in the season? Now we can add them to the list.

Maybe they have always showed up here this early and we never noticed or maybe we might have a vey ducky year this time around. Time will tell.