Hello everyone,
Well, we made our winter goal of having more species of birds than birders, but just barely. It was pretty quiet, bird-wise, although the weather was quite nice for a December day.
A lovely pair of Hooded Mergansers was paddling around in the east lagoon. They were joined by many Red-breasted Mergansers, and, as we’ve had for the past couple years, one female Common Merganser. I guess she prefers the company of the Red-breasteds. One Common Goldeneye was also hanging out with the flock.
A fun sight was a Red-bellied Woodpecker that was clinging to the top of an old wasp nest. We assume that he was finding bugs in the nest material. We also had a surprise, quite late, Golden-crowned Kinglet in Bobolink Woods.
Reminder: we will be having our traditional New Year’s Day bird walk at 8:00am on Wednesday. It’s a great way to start the new year for those of us who can’t stay up past 10:00pm. Happy New Year to all!
BIRDERS: Val, Mike, Mark W., Kristin, Lucy, Cheryl, Roger, Luther, Mark C., Bob, Daniela, Jennie, Marian, Mark M., Eric, Bil, Jan, Marisa, Renate.
TIME: 8:00am to 10:30am
WEATHER: High 40s, cloudy
Compiler: Cheryl
Photographers: Marisa, Eric, Paul
Canada Goose Number observed: 287
Mallard Number observed: 16
Common Goldeneye Number observed: 1
Hooded Merganser Number observed: 2
Common Merganser Number observed: 1
Red-breasted Merganser Number observed: 14
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 3
American Herring Gull Number observed: 7
Red-tailed Hawk Number observed: 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker Number observed: 2
Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 3
Hairy Woodpecker Number observed: 1
American Crow Number observed: 1
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet Number observed: 1
European Starling Number observed: 15
American Robin Number observed: 3
House Sparrow Number observed: 4
House Finch Number observed: 3
American Goldfinch Number observed: 12
American Tree Sparrow Number observed: 4
Dark-eyed Junco Number observed: 3
Northern Cardinal Number observed: 4
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
Photo: White-crowned-Sparrow by Geri Kodey