Hi,

I was gone for 10 days - when I left the swans and snow geese were already
dwindling. I did a quick driving survey from about 10 to 11 this morning.
It was a day of spotty, light rain. By the time I was back home at noon
there are hot spots but you'd still have to call it "overcast with scattered
showers". Here are the results:

Bald Eagles - numbers down but still present. Adults in/near
nests, immatures
elsewhere.
Hawks - several redtails, a Rough-Legged, and two Harriers. No Kestrels.
No peregrines.
Ducks - "everywhere" but not the numbers we were seeing just over a
week ago.
One Bufflehead and the only other verified species were all
Mallards.
Great Blue Herons - zero (unlikely I missed them). Tide was high so they
were likely just somewhere else. Since the rookery is 'just across
the bay' seeing zero GBHs is notable but not rare.
Flicker - one.
Ravens and Crows - a few.
Red-winged Blackbirds - where ever there were cattails. Other blackbirds -
normal (several hundred in groups of 50 and up).
Snow Geese - one large concentration near D'Arcy and Bayview-Edison Rd.
At least 5k and possible over 10k.
Trumpeter/Tundra Swans - one area near D'Arcy and Farm to Market.
About 500.
Seagulls - just about every where.

There are no swans on the Butler Flats - one group of Snow Geese. (Verified
with spotting scope from our house.)

I was expecting to be blanked on the snows and swans - pleasantly
surprised to
see any at all. I did not have time to wait and see ... those groupings are,
perhaps, "transients" moving North and stopping over to refuel ... ?

- that's all folks ... Jim in Burlington