Hi Tweeters,
Well the field trip on Saturday was a chilly one. The ponds on the road into
the bridge were frozen but we did manage to rustle up a Virginia Rail or
two. It was a really quite morning with very few small birds. We saw one
mixed flock of chickadees, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Golden-crowned
Kinglets. One of the group got a look at a big white bird flying south
beyond the far dike. I suspect it was the Great Egret because she described
it well. I didn't get to see it through binos. There were an amazing number
of Red-tailed Hawks somewhere between 15 and 20 birds. I think that is the
most I've ever seen there. Hunting season is over so many of the ducks are
back in the ponds. We saw a hundred or so Green-winged Teal, lots of
Pintail, Northern Shoveler and Gadwall as well. The sewage ponds were busy
too with Greater Scaup and Ruddy Duck. We didn't see any grebes but
Pied-billed and mostly Mew Gulls were flying over the ponds (no Bonapartes).
One snipe flew over and one Sharp-shinned Hawk buzzed us as well. We ended
up with 44 species. No bad for a cold quiet morning.
Tracee Geernaert
PS if one of my trip participants is lurking out there - I don't have the
name of the lady who saw the egret. Big oops . Email me if you are her or
know who it was. Thanks.