Date: 4/7/25 7:30 pm From: Teage O'Connor <badger.meli...> Subject: [VTBIRD] Harlequin ducks at Shelburne Bay
Like many of you, I've spent hundreds of hours flipping back and forth through the pages of my well-worn Sibleys trying to ID some LBB or nondescript gull. There are tons of birds in there that I've never encountered out in the wild, but seeing them over and over again on those pages builds up a search image. And it's the rare but magical experience of seeing a mysterious bird out in the field and just knowing immediately, without having to look it up, what species it is.
I remember this about 10 years ago with a bushtit in California and yesterday, while down at Oakledge Park in Burlington, it happened again. I spotted a couple of ducks about 100' away bobbing up and down in the water. From a distance, I couldn't quite tell what they were and my brain started sifting through a list of possibilities. But nothing quite fit. I made my way along the cliffs with my kids, and when we finally got another good luck from about 20' away, I said with great glee (that I don't think they quite appreciated), "Harlequin ducks!!!"
