Today while participating in the Wabasha Christmas Bird Count, we found an adult male Harlequin Duck below the dam at Alma, Wisconsin. The bird was clearly visible below the Minnesota side of the dam, which is approached by walking a mile across the dike from the parking area on the shore south of Wabasha. Of course you can drive to the dam on the other side of the river at Alma, but then you are far from the duck and I doubt it will be easy to see at that distance. But, I haven't tried that view.
We were quite disappointed when we walked across the dike to see how little open water there was in the Mississippi. But, we knew that the water below the dam would be open. There were fewer than ducks than I had hoped in the water there, but the first group of three ducks I focused on with my binoculars included the Harlequin. It is a first record for the Wabasha CBC and apparently for the county. My attempts to digiscope pictures of the duck with the camera in my phone and my scope were unsuccessful. My (wife's) good camera was a mile across the dike in my truck. It looks like I will have to document the bird by describing it. -- Steve Weston On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.net ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
