Some Happy Finds in Crestwood Village 3/21

On our way to the Crestwood Community Gardens with our friend Joan we passed, just before sunset, the little pond on Schoolhouse Road. Normally this pond attracts Mallards and geese. A few Hooded Mergansers or Ring-necked Ducks are a big deal. So when we saw a couple of swans on the pond, I thought that was interesting. When the swans turned out to be Tundra Swans, I was astonished. When Joan picked out a drake Redhead from among the 28 Ring-necked Ducks, I went from astonished to flabbergasted. I never would have expected to find those swans or the Redhead on this little body of water.

Cell phone photo by Shari Zirlin

The light was low and neither Shari's nor Joan's cell phones were up to the task of taking anything more than an atmospheric picture. You can see the two swans way in the back of shot above.

The reason we were on our way to the gardens was to find woodcocks. It's a reliable spot for them and we weren't disappointed tonight, at least aurally. We heard at least two timberdoodles "peenting" and Joan thought she had four. They didn't seem interested in displaying tonight. Maybe it's still too cold? In any case, not a bad evening, five minutes from the house--rare swans, a great duck, and funny "shorebirds." Oh, and a Cooper's Hawk flew over as we were waiting for it to get completely dark. Not bad at all.