Fort Canby State Park (at the boat launch near the entrance)

April 6th 2002 Sat.

55 degrees F
Wind 15-20 mph
70-85% cloud cover

1:00pm- 3:00pm 2 hrs.
2 counters

4 Red-breasted mergansers (2m 2f)
2 double crested cormorants
24 robins (they were everywhere!)
4 rufus hummers (all males as far as I could tell)
12 Lesser Yellowlegs
3 f Mallards
2 adult Bald Eagles
1 imm. Bald Eagle
8 Caspian Turns
31 Buffleheads
49 Wigeons
4 Turkey Vultures
6 Common Loons
18 Canada Geese
Seen but not counted
-------------------------------------
California Gulls
Western Gulls
N.W Crows
American Crows

Got a great look at the Mergansers! Beautiful specimens. The males were displaying and chasing eachother around. They have some kind of display were they lift their heads up and then bob down almost slapping the water. Then they would chase. Odd but interesting display.
I also got to see them pull up a couple different food items. One appeared to be a clam and the other I could clearly see was some kind of small yellow colored eel.
The imm. Bald Eagle made on attempt to catch something but failed. It gave us a great look at the raptor technique though. After that he went back up to sit in the trees.
That of course caused some ruckus among the shore birds and our Lesser Yellowlegs left after that, sounding off as they took flight. Not all at once though, some took off and then a couple more and a couple more until they had all left.
The adult Bald Eagles were fighting over territory and doing their death dive several times.
The Rufus Hummers were busy, all over the place. They had a nice little patch of Salmon Berry and some Willows around too. I heard them much more than I saw them.
I observed the Wigeons picking at the pilings while they were in the water , quite a bit.
The Buffleheads didn't seem to be doing much. I didn't notice any feeding or displaying or anything really. Maybe it's not their time of day.........
I couldn't tell what race those Canada Geese were, they were a bit too far away.
The robins were everywhere! Mostly in the grass as you went past the entrance to the park.


Happy Birding,
Dan Williams
dewdrop129 at hotmail.com