Wednesday 4 November 2009

Out for a duck

Just 9 dowitchers visible this morning at Holden Creek though three very helpful 3 birds flew around calling, confirming their ID - long-billed. As pictured in the terrible photo below...

Several hundred American wigeon and green-winged teal were on the flooded saltmarsh. Scanning through them with bins I managed to pick out a Eurasian wigeon but a low flying bald eagle scattered the wildfowl sending them out the coast, where they stayed. Fewer than a hundred birds returned and there was nothing notable amongst them.
A pair of hooded merganser and a bufflehead were in the main creek.
A pileated woodpecker flew over and the usual flickers. house finches, juncos etc were present as was a single 1st winter white-crowned sparrow.

Paid a visit to Hemer Park to see what was lurking on the pool there.
A couple of brown creeper were showing brilliantly along the path while varied thrush, red-breasted nuthcatches and chestnut-backed chickadees kept me company along the trails.
On the pond there were at least 52 gadwall, 8 ring-necked duck, a few American wigeon and mallard plus good numbers of hooded and common mergansers. A single American coot and 3 pied-billed grebe were seen.

Back at the condo, a flock of c50 pine siskin were flying around over the conifers while offshore 8 white-winged scoter had joined the many surf scoters. New in were a group of Barrow's goldeneye and a few more bufflehead.

Oh, forgot to mention - a single Rhinoceros auklet was on the sea here yesterday.

1 comment:

  1. I love those 3 very helpful birds! Now tell me, where did you get that nice simple free counter? If it's in the gadgets thingy, which one is it? Just now, around dusk, I was down at the Estuary Gate after two very very wet days and it was a lovely evening, Blackpool Tower to the south rising out of the misty surface layers 9 great name for a band), Pike O'Stickle to the NorthWest with cloud layers just above it, 3 little Egrets buzzing around, Greylags settling down for the night over on Colloway, even a couple of bits of firewood. My camera was, of course, at home. Ray signing off.

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