Completing the Bradley Challenge- Seeing all the Waterfowl in Rhode Island

In front of the goose and to the right you can see the
male Blue Winged Teal with its characteristic  white crescent
in front of the eye

 Three years ago, I was having a conversation with my friends Dick and Marge Bradley. Marge had retired that year so they got to spend more time birding. While we were talking, Dick mentioned it was the first year they saw all of the waterfowl. We all keep our list on a website run by a fellow birder named Paul L'Etoile. I had never thought about seeing all of the waterfowl that regularly pass through Rhode Island. It seemed like an obvious challenge.

  The category of waterfowl includes all the species of swans, geese, and ducks that can be seen in Rhode Island.  Many of these birds are easy. I'm sure all of you reading this see plenty of Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Mallards, and Wood Ducks. There are plenty of others that are still pretty easy to see if you are a birder such as most of the sea ducks.

   However, seeing the few harder species is no easy task. The rarer birds don't always show up every year. When they do, sometimes it is only one and you need to chase it. Case in point, there was one King Eider seen in 2019. It could only be seen from the Block Island Ferry or the cliffs on BI with perfect weather conditions. Black Guillemot is another duck you can only see from the ferry.

Other rare species include Tufted Duck, Blue Winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Barrow's Goldeneye, Greater White Fronted Goose, and Tundra Swan.

   Last year in my quest to see as many species as I could I managed to see all but one of these birds. The one I worried about most was Tufted Duck, a native of  Europe but a few will wonder our way. One was seen last May at rush hour in Newport. I was at Swan Point Cemetery about to leave because it started to rain.When I found out about the bird, I went through downtown Providence at 5 pm. I drove through the rain and traffic, saw the bird and came home.

  This left me with only one species I needed, Tundra Swan. Every year for as long as I can remember going back to when DJ was a kid, I would see Tundra Swans at Lake Tiogue in Coventry in December. In 2018 they were there at the end of December, but the pond froze up on Dec 30 so when I went there the first week of January they were far south. Not to worry, I figured, I'll get them in Dec 2019. So or the entire month of December I checked Tiogue on all of my days off. They never showed up. This crushed me since I was one bird that I see every year away from completing the Bradley Challenge.

It turned out two Tundra Swans did show up at the end of 2019 on Block Island. We all thought they were for a day but left so no one went after them. We didn't know the Tundra Swans would end up staying the winter. So on January 2 six of us braved the crossing of Block Island Sound, took a taxi to Sachem Pond and saw the Tundra Swans guaranteeing we would have them for the year.

  Seeing most of the waterfowl was easy this year. I even saw the rare Pink Footed Goose, a species so rare in Rhode Island they are on a "vagrant" list. By the end of January I had all the swans, geese, and ducks except for Wood Duck (easy in March) and Blue Winged Teal. I  got the Wood Ducks a couple weeks ago leaving the teal.

Late March through April is the best time to see Blue Winged Teal, but they are not easy. For the last three weeks I have been searching known hotspots without any luck. Today a pair was seen at Great Swamp (one of the hotspots I have been going to) by John Magill and Linda G.. So after work I rushed down and refound them. I watched them for 15 minutes along with a pair of Glossy Ibis before heading home. Thus completing the Bradley Challenge.

Glossy Ibis

   This was the first time I have seen all of the waterfowl like I said. Some years a few of these species just won't show up. However, I suspect most of my hardcore birding friends have more years where they get them all then not. I have only been in this game competitively for a couple years now, so for me, it was my biggest birding goal for the year. I doubt I will get anywhere near the number of birds I got last year for multiple reasons. I doubt whale watches will be going out, winter finches may not show up, and many birding locations are closed thanks to Corona. So, I am thrilled to have seen the pair of Blue Winged Teal tonight.

One last thing, I had the conversation with Dick about the waterfowl three years ago, I literally made up the name the "Bradley Challenge" as I was walking  out of Great Swamp tonight.