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Author: Peter Kasper
Sunday, November 30
Today was pretty much a slight variation of last Thursday's theme.
Canada Geese and
Mallards were present in large
numbers at the ice-free patches on all the larger lakes.
Among them were small numbers of
Cackling Geese, a few
Hooded Mergansers, several
Northern Shovelers, one
Ring-necked Duck, and one
Northern Pintail. The seven
Ross's Geese were feeding in a corn field along east Wilson st. A
Sharp-shinned Hawk was perched near the industrial buildings
and a nice male
Northern Harrier was found hunting the
fields along Eola rd. The best birds, however, were a
Northern Shrike by A.E.Sea and a female
Purple Finch at the
Ed Center feeders.
Thursday, November 27
I took advantage of the thanksgiving day holidays to do some
birding on site today. There were lots of
Canada Geese on
the partially frozen lakes including a fair number of
Cackling Geese and a flock of seven
Ross's Geese. Apart from
Mallards and a big flock of Nortthern Shovelers on A.E.Sea,
there was little else in the way of waterfowl; a few
Hooded Mergansers, some
American Black Ducks, a
Common Goldeneye,
and a
Green-winged Teal. The only other birds of note were a
Fox Sparrow at the Ed Center feeders and a
Great Horned Owl sitting out in the open in a clump of pines just off north
Eola rd.
Sunday, November 23
I am in Argentina this week and hence missed out on seeing
the good birds found on site today. The best find was a
flock of 30 or 40
Purple Finches along Geise rd. A northern
Shrike was seen in the garden club and a
Wood Duck was
present on Casey's pond. Other notable finds were
Rough-legged Hawk and
Ring-necked Duck.
Thursday, November 13
There was a group of
Purple Finches at the Ed Center feeders
this morning ... I counted at least four females and a male.
Also present were
White-throated and
Fox Sparrows as well as
the more usual visitors. While I was there I also heard
American Crows and later saw two
Double-crested Cormorants flying into Swan Lake where a late
Great Egret has been
hanging out for the past couple of weeks.
Sunday, November 9
It felt like winter today and the cold weather added some
momentum to the fall migration. Highlights today were a
Horned Grebe (Lake Logo) and a
Northern Shrike. Also new for
the season were
Buffleheads (Lake Law and Andy's Pond) and
Ring-necked Ducks. There were also quite a few
Hooded Mergansers and several
Green-winged Teal. Flocks of land
birds were moving through the site including two large mixed
flocks. One at the north end of Kautz rd comprised of
American Robins,
Cedar Waxwings,
European Starlings,
American Goldfinches, and
Eastern Bluebirds and the other
was along east Wilson st and contained mainly
Red-winged Blackbirds and
Common Grackles with a few
Rusty Blackbirds and
Brown-headed Cowbirds. Despite the cold weather, several
summer residents were still to be found:
Double-crested Cormorant,
Great Egret,
Killdeer, and
Chipping Sparrow.
Sunday, November 2
Though the numbers of waterfowl (geese in particular) were
well down, there was still a fair amount of variety. Several
Greater White-fronted and
Cackling Geese were in the bison
pasture and a
Northern Pintail was on the bison wallow along
with a sole
Dunlin. The horse paddock produced several
Wilson's Snipe and a
Red-breasted Nuthatch was in the nearby
pines. There were good numbers of sparrows migrating
through, including the first
American Tree Sparrows of thge
year, however, we were unable to find anything unusual among
them.
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