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AMERICAN PINTAIL

Other common names: Sprig; Sprigtail; Spiketail.

Museum Specimen - Reflection Lake (5000), Golden Lakes (5000).

In the old days, still remembered by some old-timers, vast armies of ducks passed northward up the Mississippi Valley to their breeding grounds in the north country. Flocks of pintail helped swell these vast hoardes. The old duck-hunter lying in his blind (there was spring shooting then) would observe flock after flock of pintail, high in the air, flying northward. No stopovers for them; all seemed to be hurrying for their nesting grounds. Where are they now?

Fortunately, we still have a supply on the Pacific coast flight, though now reduced in numbers. Many spend the winter on Puget Sound. They breed on both sides of the Cascades in Washington, but in very restricted numbers. The majority go north in the spring. They occur in the park only as a straggler in the fall. Two birds were recorded at Lake James (Taylor and Shaw) in August, one female at Reflection Lake in September, and an immature drake on one of the Golden Lakes in October.

Few ducks, if any, can equal this bird in simple elegance and grace. The long, almost swan-like neck of the drake, so beautifully marked with white, brown and black, may easily identify the species. The long black tail feathers, from whence it gets its name, separates it at once from any other of the pond ducks. They are dainty in their feeding and prefer shallow water a few inches deep, in some grassy field.

Their nesting site is on dry ground where the grass is long, affording good concealment. The female is a close sitter and will flush only on very close approach.

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GREEN-WINGED TEAL

Museum Specimens: Reflection Lake (4900').

Green-winged teal, unlike their cousins, the cinnamon and blue-wing, can stand the cold and stormy weather of autumn and spring. Here in the Puget Sound country they remain all winter. When their fresh-water haunts are frozen, they resort to salt water and mud flats. They are fond of shallow water or a cat-tail slough where they can hide and snooze during the day.

For the park we have October records at Reflection Lake and the Golden Lakes.

These little teal can be recognized by their small size. The green markings on the wing, and green on the side of the head on adult drakes, are true identification marks, as is the plainly spotted breast. They are generally silent, but sometimes in the evening when coming in you will hear a very subdued "quack".

Nesting begins in May and a set of ten or eleven ivory-white eggs is laid. The site is on dry ground, and of course the nest lining is down from the breast of the mother bird. Like the mallard, they sometimes choose a site some distance from water, and it is a picture of a life-time to come on a frightened mother leading a bunch of tiny, newly-hatched ducklings along some path to the water's edge.

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BARROW'S GOLDEN-EYE

Other common names: Whistler; Garret; Whistle-wing; Tack-eye.

Barrow's golden-eyes are deep-water ducks. That is they are at home and feed in salt water most of the year. They can never be called common - not as much so as their cousin, the American golden-eye. While the latter bird goes north to breed, many Barrow's golden-eyes resort to mountain lakes up and down the Cascades as far south as California. We have no actual breeding records for the park, but for years past several pairs have nested at Packwood Lake just outside the boundary near Ohanapecosh. They should be found, in late summer, on any of our larger lakes. Our park record is a female with six grown young on Reflection Lake, August 23, 1934.

This little bunch was watched on the water for some time, diving and feeding, always under the control of the parent bird. When frightened, they circled the lake twice for altitude, then all hands dipped down and splashed into Lake Louise.

Golden-eyes are stocky, heavy birds, larger than they look on the water. All deep-water ducks whose legs are at the "stern" end of the body, float deeper than the paddling, pond duck.

The Barrow's golden-eye drake has a purplish colored head with a white crescent on either side to distinguish him from the American with a green head and round, white spots on either side. The back is black and white; underneath parts white. The females of both varieties can hardly be told apart. Both have brown heads; grayish on back and sides and white below. In both sexes, the feathers on the head are "puffy", giving one the idea that the wrong-sized head had been placed on the neck.

They resort to holes in trees and stubs for nesting, and lay eight to ten eggs, greenish-blue, in a nest of grasses lined with down. Many spend the winter on Puget Sound north of Seattle, but they are decidedly rare in the Nisqually Flats areas.

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WESTERN HARLEQUIN DUCK

Other common names: Lord and Lady; Painted Duck; Rock Duck; Mountain Duck.

The harlequin duck is one of the few that nest within the park boundaries. Almost any mountain stream may have a pair or family during the summer months. The faster the water the better they like it. A family a few days old was chased down stream. Coming to a four-foot waterfall they all went over, mother and brood, only to reappear below like so many pieces of cork, none the worse for their adventure.

Their favorite nesting site is on some small island in river or creek. Where any debris, left by high water, has caught on brush to form concealment, that is where the female makes her nest. Usually about seven eggs are laid - large eggs for the size of the bird.

Harlequins have been recorded in various streams in the park. Flett (1920) reported a female nesting below Longmire on the Nisqually in May. The writer noted a male on the Nisqually, April 15, 1935 and a pair nested on Tahoma Creek in the summer of the same year. They also nest on the Carbon River. The Ohanapecosh and White Rivers should attract them.

There should be no trouble in identifying the male bird, but the female is of a very subdued color and her presence on a mountain stream itself is almost more identification than her coloring. The male, as the name implies, is marked like the face of the old-fashioned clown in the pantomime. With a background of grayish-blue, he is marked and striped with white and black, while the flanks are a bright chestnut. Remember, they are short, chunky little ducks, more at home in the water than a-wing. Mated pairs, resting quietly on a half-submerged log, give the appearance of gentleness, sitting side by side, quiet and unassuming.

When the nesting season is over and the young grown, they travel down stream to salt water for the remainder of the year. Here, ones and twos are seen always near partly submerged rocks where they feed on mussels, small crabs and other marine life. As the winter passes they form flocks, many remaining together till May before separating and journeying again up stream.

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Descriptions continued...