Sandhill Crane (Photo by Tom Bentley) |
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Spring added a new species for the site list with the discovery of a Thayer's Gull on Lake Law on March 12. The Spring Bird Count was again very successful with a total of 102 species being found (1 short of 1999's record year). The most unusual birds on the count were a summer plumaged Horned Grebe in the ponds along Eola Rd and a Snow Goose which appeared to be associating with Canada Geese by Swenson Rd.
Henslow's Sparrow (Photo by Merilee Janusz) |
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The other extremely unusual record for the summer was an Acadian Flycatcher which spent the entire summer in a small willow thicket south of Lake Law. This bird is normally summer a resident of deep woodlands of the south east and is quite rare this far north. So its occurrence on site was unusual for its choice of habitat as well as for its overall rarity.
The burning of the scrub between Lake Law and A.E.Sea also appears to have been successful, in that the Bell's Vireos returned to the area again this year and this time established territories in both the unburnt area as well as the area burnt in the spring of 1999.
Fall migration was marked by unusually large numbers of Merlins and Le Conte's Sparrows in the area between Lake Law and A.E.Sea, and an American Avocet which remained on site throughout most of October. However, the most unusual find was a female Black Scoter and a female Surf Scoter together on Lake Law on November 13. This was the second site record for both of these ducks which are typically found on coastal waters and are extremely rare inland.