Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Ecusta Pond, Brevard County, May 19, 2020

“Black bellied whistling duck @ Ecusta”  That text from Michael Plauche came across the local text group early on May 19th.  Michael regularly birds Ecusta Pond and has found some great birds there.  For instance last Fall and Winter he had locally rare Common Mergansers on the lake.  And then this Spring he had a Cave Swallow there in a mixed swallow flock.  I chased after the Mergansers and needed two trips before I found them.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t successful with the Swallow despite two tries.  But I didn’t let my less-than-spectacular track record on recent Ecusta Pond searches deter me from dropping everything and heading out for yet another rare bird search at Ecusta Pond.  At least it was just 45 minutes from home.

Birding Ecusta Pond is not exactly very intuitive.  The only location from which to view the pond is from a church on the north side.  The church has given birders permission to stand on the second floor fire escape of the sanctuary, just large enough for 3 birders to squeeze in.  Or with social distancing, barely enough room for 2. 

Michael sent me text updates as I headed to Ecusta.  Although one text said the bird was spooked by a Cormorant, his next one said “Back on aerator.  Your chances are good.”  I was optimistic.  I finally made it to the church and there was Michael still up on the fire escape keeping tabs on the Duck.  After a brisk walk up the steps I quickly set up the scope and as Michael suggested focused on the aerator just left of the white sign on the far side.  There was the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck just hanging out on the aerator.  But before I counted it as a new NC statebird, I looked to be sure there were no bands on the bird’s legs.  And with some effort I could see that it had both hind toes – often aviculturalists will remove the hind toes of their captive birds.  So it was very likely a wild bird and countable - #297 on my NC statelist.

Here’s a photo of the aerator in the distance where the BBWD preferred to perch.

And then a phonescoped photo of the bird with the scope set at 50 power.

Although Black-bellied Whistling-Duck is certainly a rarity for the NC mountains, we’re not too far from the northeastern edge of its range.  The closest regular locations for this expanding species are at a park in Augusta, GA (130 miles away), and along the SC coast, especially from Charleston and south (about 200 miles away).  Ironically, I still need this species in both of those states.  In my statebird map below, the blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen BBWD as a regular species.  The cross-hatched states are those where it is regular but I have yet to catch up with it.  Though I’ve now seen it in the 6 tan states as a rarity.  It’s not only expanding its range, it’s also a vagrant where a single bird or a small flock can pop up almost anywhere.