Gadwall

Status Rare in summer, very rare in winter. Breeds. It was listed by Blakiston and Bland (1857) as "in winter: rare," which is plausible, as early collectors tended to know their waterfowl. However, it was not recorded again until one was shot on the Grand Pre meadows on 14 November 1931 by Lemuel Morine; another was shot there on 11 November 1947 (M. Frankson); and a female, now in the Nova Scotia Museum, was taken at Wallace, Cumberland County, on 3 November 1953. In 1966, Cynus S. Eaton released a few near Hollahan Lake, Lunenburg County, and some evidently nested in the vicinity. Since 1970 the species has become much more regular with numbers summering in the Amherst region. Birds arrive in April (average 9 April, earliest 2 April) and are generally last seen in October or November. However, a bird was shot in Pubnico on 16 January 1978; another wintered on Sullivans Pond, Dartmouth, in 1979-80; and one was seen at Green Bay, Lunenburg County, on 28 January 1984.

Description Length: 48-58 cm. Adult male: Head and neck buff with fine dusky brown streaks; body gray, with strong black scaling on breast; sides finely barred with gray; uppertail and undertail coverts black; tail pale grayish brown; wings gray, with some chestnut in coverts, outer secondaries mostly black, inner ones white. Adult female: Mottled brown, with white secondary patch as in male.

Breeding Nest: Usually on a well-drained site but sometimes afloat, and well concealed. Eggs: 5-14, creamy or greenish buff. The first brood in the Amherst Point Bird Sanctuary was in 1978, and frequent broods or nests have been recorded annually in that region since. A brood was recorded on Bon Portage Island in 1981 (P. Barkhouse et al.).

Range In North America, breeds from southern Alaska, the Yukon and the MacKenzie Valley to southern Ontario and Quebec, sporadically in the Maritimes, locally to southern California, Wisconsin, Ohio and on the Atlantic coast to North Carolina. Also in Eurasia, from Iceland to northern China and Sakhalin. Withdraws from northern parts of its range in winter.

Remarks The Gadwall is nowhere abundant, although it is widely distributed. It is essentially a freshwater species and has a low rating as a table bird. Although formerly a stray to Nova Scotia from the centre of the continent, it is clearly becoming established here as a nesting bird.