Guest blog by Mike Peters- Rare Duck draws huge attention

A survey by our biologist on December 19th showed that we had about 140,000 ducks and 40,000 geese using Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, but it has been one duck in particular that has been bringing people from throughout the country to the refuge.

On December 8, an Audubon group from Sacramento had a field trip to the Refuge and discovered that we had a beautiful male falcated duck on the Refuge. Falcated Ducks are typically found in Asia and have only been recorded in California a few times, with the last record for the state in 2002. The bird has been very cooperative and has been seen nearly every day on the same pond.

Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

Fortunately for visitors looking for the bird, it has picked the pond at the beginning of the auto tour route where we have a nice viewing deck that provides the visitors a great vantage point to see our "celebrity duck" and the thousands of other ducks and geese that typically use the pond.  Today one of the editors of the National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America was here to see the bird as was a news crew from Channel 3.

Courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

The falcated duck typically stays fairly close to the observation deck giving people good opportunities for taking photos.  

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Mike Peters is Refuge Manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Colusa and Sutter Refuges.