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Author: Peter Kasper
Northern Pintails on Andy's Pond Wednesday, December 31
Taking advantage of the half day holiday I did a quick tour
around the lab today an came up with some good waterfowl
sightings .. two
Redheads were on Andy's pond, a female
Canvasback was on main ring lake and a female
Hooded Merganser was on the main ring moat.
Common Mergansers and
Common Goldeneyes are also still present in good numbers.
Sunday, December 28
It was cold and windy, so I didn't do much birding today,
but I did manage to find a beautiful dark morph
Rough-legged Hawk at the north end of Eola rd and
Fox Sparrows at the Ed.
Center feeders.
Saturday, December 20
Today was the Christmas Bird Count. We started out well with
three Eastern Screech Owls responding to tape before dawn.
(Well before dawn!) We then split up and made our way to the
various lakes on site where we were shocked by the small
numbers of
Canada Geese and
Mallards. We counted only 87
geese which is the lowest tally in 30 years and is about 2%25
of the average count. Similarly, the 46
Mallards was an all
time low count and only 20%25 of the last 10 year average.
There were compensations however, the 331
Common Goldeneyes more than doubled the previous record and the
White-breasted Nuthatch count of 19 was also a record high. We also
recorded our first
Purple Finch in 32 years. Other good
sightings included
Hooded Merganser,
Lesser Scaup,
Ring-necked Duck,
Lapland Longspur, and winter specialties
such as
Rough-legged Hawk and
Northern Shrike.
Monday, December 15
Strong winds made birding very difficult today which could
account for the rather poor results. The best birds were a
Ruddy Duck on the main injector moat and a
Hooded Merganser on Main Ring Lake. A few
Cackling Geese and
American Black Ducks were among the
Canada Geese and
Mallards, but the most
notable change in the waterfowl composition was a dramatic
increase
Common Goldeneyes and
Common Mergansers on Main Ring Lake. The only other birds of note were an
Eastern Bluebird by the east gate and a
Northern Harrier inside the
main ring.
Sunday, December 7
It was bitterly cold today, so we did most of our birding
from the car. Nevertheless we did manage to find an adult
Bald Eagle just north of the main injector ring and a
Wilson's Snipe in the drainage ditch east of the anti-proton
ring. A flock of
Northern Shovelers were huddled together on
Lake Law and a couple of
American Black Ducks were on the
main ring moat. There were also quite a few
Cackling Geese scattered among the large flocks of
Canada Geese. We found a
small flock of
Cedar Waxwings along Wilson rd and a flock of
American Robins along Kautz rd. The last bird of the day was
a nice male
Northern Harrier which was hunting over the
prairie along Pine st as I was leaving the site.
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