Monday, January 13, 2014

Double Trouble SP 1/13--Pied-billed Grebe

The first two birds I saw at Double Trouble were the highlights for the morning. As I usually do, I first walked north out to the lake, scope on shoulder. In winter there are usually waterfowl if the water is open and I was hoping to snag some Tundra Swans for the year. But the lake, viewed through binoculars, was devoid of bird life. Since I had the scope, I figured I might as well use it and while scanning I quickly found the explanation for the empty waters--an immature Bald Eagle sitting on a weedy patch in the middle of the lake, tearing something apart. Only a single Pied-billed Grebe hadn't take the hint and vacated the area.

I walked back, left the scope in the car trunk, and then did my usual figure 8 around the bogs. While it is impressive to see a couple of hundred Canada Geese all come in for a landing on the bogs, they are, in the end, Canada Geese. I looked through flocks pretty carefully, but couldn't come up with anything exotic--a few smaller geese had my hopes up for Cackling Goose, but they were just a little smaller. I had Mallards to compare them with and they were bigger than those ducks. No sparrows where I usually see them, and not much going on in the village or behind the sawmill. Having seen my friend Greg's lists from last week at the park, I was hoping for more, but, hey, that's birding.
14 speciesCanada Goose  200
Mallard  50
Ring-necked Duck  9    2nd bog, Hooper Ln.
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Bald Eagle  1    Lake
Ring-billed Gull  1
American Crow  3
Carolina Chickadee  6
Carolina Wren  1
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1
American Robin  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  5
Northern Cardinal  1    behind sawmill
American Goldfinch  1    heard

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