It might as well be the Nessie, for all you can make of it. And it has been a monster of sorts for years. But there it is - proof of the existence of the legendary...
BLACK DUCK!
Okay, maybe not totally legendary. But my 15+ years of seeking finally resulted in a sighting, if not a recognizable photo. Yea!
If you've spent any time birding seriously, you almost certainly have a nemesis. It usually isn't super rare - it's understandable if you miss out on a one-day wonder, and one miss does not a nemesis make. It takes at least a double-dip (or triple-dip or dip-times-20) to make a nemesis. Lots of people do see the bird, but not you. Such a bird for me was the Black Duck - I've been looking for them for at least 15 years now every time I visited family back east. Casually at first, but increasingly obsessing with each additional trip and miss. (Pretty odd to have Falcated Duck and Baikal Teal on my waterfowl list before seeing a Black Duck.)
Last weekend, I was in Wisconsin to visit family and celebrate my dad's birthday. It was really a great weekend and it was delightful to spend time with everyone. One of the highlights was a trip to Horicon Marsh - one of my dad's favorite places to walk and bike, and one of the country's great birding spots. I'd made a brief visit there about 8 years ago during a previous trip to see the family, but it was just a quick early morning excursion.
Less zoom = more recognizable... at least you can sorta tell that they're ducks. They were hanging out with some mallards, which made for perfect comparisons.
My brother, sister-in-law, two young nephews, dad and I headed to the marsh for a family outing on Saturday. It was during our drive up that my dad and I realized that I hadn't really seen the marsh. We drove past a highway exit for Horicon, and I asked shouldn't we be turning off? No - it was another ten miles to our exit. When I had made my previous visit, I'd seen just the extreme southern end which is actually a state refuge, not the great expanse of the National Wildlife Refuge. It would be like going to Wawona and thinking you'd seen Yosemite. A lovely place for sure, but you would be missing all the main attractions.
(actual) Horicon Marsh, wetlands as far as the eye can see.
There was some pretty heavy weather due to hit the area, but we timed so we would arrive during a brief afternoon lull between storms. A stop at Culver's (home of the ButterBurger) allowed us sit out one of the heaviest downpours - and ensured that we'd really need a good walk to work off the lunchtime indulgence.
Be very quiet here....
We started at the visitor center, waiting out the last of the squalls. My nephews were fascinated by all the stuffed birds - they'd just added a large display of raptors a few days earlier. One of the staffers gave me suggestions for finding Black Ducks, Trumpeter Swans and Whooping Cranes. (Two whoopers had been seen around the refuge in recent days; didn't see them but hopefully on a future trip...)
We headed out along the Dike Road at the southern end of the refuge, and saw huge numbers of ducks on the water. My brother slowed down for every flock, especially for those that included lots of duck-like black birds... coots. I looked for large dark birds in flight and saw lots of cormorants. And then, at long last - a pair of ducks flew over with dark bellies, dusky heads and just the right amount of white under the wings! Nemesis vanquished!! It was the briefest of looks, but it was a look. Shortly after, another pair flew from the marsh and gave another brief look.
Everything appears to be in order here.
My nephews were getting a bit antsy so it was time for a walk. They are every bit as boisterous as you might expect from 5- and 6-year old siblings, but when my brother asked them to stay quiet so the birds wouldn't get scared away they went to whisper mode. We walked along the dike to a small dam, which was clearly the most exciting thing in the marsh. (They had been asking about it since the nice lady at the visitor center mentioned it.) They inspected it with a civil engineer's practiced eye, and declared it fit.
I am, indeed, the queen of crappy photos!
Next, we drove north to a driving loop, which includes a floating boardwalk trail at one of the stops. Along the way, my brother made a side trip down one the roads mentioned as a possible Black Duck hang out, which is where I finally saw the sitting birds and got a better look (and the crappy photo). Continuing north, we missed the Whooping Cranes, but did see Trumpeter Swans - only the second time I've ever seen them (nice looks and more crappy photos).
I don't need to go halfway across the country to take pixelated blurry photos of birds, as you can see from this picture from Saturday. We were at Fort Mason, looking at the Northern Gannet perched on Alcatraz about a mile away.
So now I'll be auditioning for a new nemesis. I'm thinking one of those Southern California thrashers that I manage to miss every time I go to Anza Borrego might be a worthy adversary. Or maybe the Slaty-backed Gulls that have been showing up in the Bay Area over the past few winters. (Of course, that means I need to get better at gull ID.) And of course, there's always the Smew.
Who's your nemesis?