Photo: Green heron by Lindsay Vacek

Hello everyone,

It was cold but not impossibly cold so we managed to achieve more bird species than birders. A female Common Merganser is still hanging around with our resident Red-breasted Mergansers. It’s a good opportunity for us to study the differences between the females of the two species.

 A beautiful male American Kestrel perched in a willow tree at the north end of the soccer field was a nice find. Two Belted Kingfishers seem to be making the Island and lagoons their home, at least until the water freezes and they can no longer go fishing. 

The big excitement of the day was a large flock of Sandhill Cranes that flew over at the end of our walk. Interestingly, a Canada Goose seemed to be leading the flock. Whether that was intentional or the goose just happened to be flying ahead of the Sandhills is unknown, but it was an interesting visual.

BIRDERS: Leslie, Marian, Mike, Jennie, Mark C., Eric, Peter, Marisa, Jane, Nick, Megan, Tracy

TIME: 8:00am to 10:00am     

WEATHER:

Compiler: Mike          

Canada Goose  112
Mallard  9
Common Merganser  1
Red-breasted Merganser  10
Sandhill Crane  56
Ring-billed Gull  5
Great Blue Heron  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Downy Woodpecker  1
American Kestrel  1
Black-capped Chickadee  5
European Starling  26
American Robin  1
House Sparrow  9
American Goldfinch  7
American Tree Sparrow  4
Dark-eyed Junco  6
Northern Cardinal  11

If you’d like more information about a bird, check out the All About Birds ID guide:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/

Corrections, additions and comments are welcome.

Good birding everyone,

Jennie