Morning Walk

I woke to a sunny morning with calm conditions. A nice spring day. Although it’s still a bit early for shorebirds, with a relatively low tide (coming up by the time I checked), I thought I would take a walk around the park just in case an early shorebird migrant or two was around. I … Read more

Changing Weather

Today’s weather was getting to be like people sometimes refer to as herring weather. Perhaps more strictly we would have needed to see more rain in the mix, as today was just mostly graupel and little bits of snow falling in sometimes heavy showers. Between showers the sun would shine, and throughout it all there … Read more

Starrigavan (Bay Side)

Most of today’s pictures came from a trip to Starrigavan. Connor and Rowan lost track of me and went out Mosquito Cove Trail on their own. I wasn’t feeling that well, so was content to sit in the sun on sunny point a little way down from the start of Mosquito Cove Trail.

Snow and Birds

Snow overnight with some scattered snow showers today left the ground covered in an inch or so of snow. Between the snow showers, the sun was actually shining for a good chunk of the day. Was nice to have another day of brightness as we approach the new year.

I did a little birding this afternoon, with the main goal to try and photograph a Lincoln’s Sparrow that has been visiting a feeder since at least late fall.

On a brief stop at Swan Lake, I was interested to see how aggressive the Trumpeter Swan was being with a couple of Mallards that were getting between it and the corn someone was tossing out. The swan would grab the mallard (male in each case) by the neck and swing it around a few times. The ducks seemed to get the idea and leave a little space around the swan. I thought it was funny to see the first year Glaucous Gull fly in and slip into the dense crowd of Mallards to try a bit of the corn. I didn’t get the impression it was much to the gull’s liking, as it didn’t make much effort to go after more.

Across the lake 24 or more Ring-necked Ducks were all gathered up in the open water near the little cove on the west side. This is the best time to observe the ducks, as when the lake is open, they tend to be scattered around and most of them are distant and hard to see very well. When the lake ices over completely they leave – and are rarely observed elsewhere. In the same opening was an American Wigeon – a bird I’ve not noticed lately.

I did get to see the Lincoln’s Sparrow. Wasn’t a great time for getting pictures of it, but did get one shot that was at least recognizable. Might try for a better photo on a future occasion when I have more time and the direction of the sun is a bit better.

Read more