This morning I met some new friends of mine at the park for a 3 mile hike full of birding and photo talk. It was a bright sunny day at least but I still can't get over how cold it has remained this late into March. The temperature when I woke this morning was only 16 degrees and I'm still dressing in all my normal winter clothes including a layer of thermal underwear head to toe. The first "official day" of Spring came 3 days ago and it was the coldest first-day on record since 1965! Most anywhere off the trail you can still step in places with snow well above your shoe line. It's still just a bit early I guess for returning birds though and it was relatively quiet still at the park. We did get to see a Northern Shrike for a bit but I wasn't able to get a great photo. There were LOTS of Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Nuthatches and Cardinals. Many of the Cardinals were singing loudly adding to the "feel" of Spring.
We caught this one plucking a Buckthhorn Berry on the North end of the park. Over on the duck pond we looked for Waldo the Wood Duck but he was not there today. But still with the other Mallards was the one lone Gadwall that I first spotted last weekend.
Again I almost didn't notice him among the similarly colored female Mallards. At one point he came right up to us on the edge of the pond and took a ton of photos of him. Something I noticed this time that I hadn't last time was that he had kind of a soft white patch on the front of his breast. I don't know if this was part of his plumage or maybe it was just missing in this part. I was looking later at some photos of a female Gadwall and wondering if next time I go back I should be looking harder. They would appear extremely similar to a female Mallard but with more of a "square" shaped head. One of the last notable sights of the day was a large group of European Starlings that came in to land in a single tall tree. I've been thinking lately that I hadn't seen them in huge numbers -easily in the hundreds- yet like I did last year.
Well today there was probably around 40 to 50 of them that came in and started making their noisy high pitched shrill. I don't think these guys ever completely leave for the winter as I've seen a handful here and there this season. But now it is obvious more and more are making their way back northwards.
We caught this one plucking a Buckthhorn Berry on the North end of the park. Over on the duck pond we looked for Waldo the Wood Duck but he was not there today. But still with the other Mallards was the one lone Gadwall that I first spotted last weekend. 
Again I almost didn't notice him among the similarly colored female Mallards. At one point he came right up to us on the edge of the pond and took a ton of photos of him. Something I noticed this time that I hadn't last time was that he had kind of a soft white patch on the front of his breast. I don't know if this was part of his plumage or maybe it was just missing in this part. I was looking later at some photos of a female Gadwall and wondering if next time I go back I should be looking harder. They would appear extremely similar to a female Mallard but with more of a "square" shaped head. One of the last notable sights of the day was a large group of European Starlings that came in to land in a single tall tree. I've been thinking lately that I hadn't seen them in huge numbers -easily in the hundreds- yet like I did last year. 
Well today there was probably around 40 to 50 of them that came in and started making their noisy high pitched shrill. I don't think these guys ever completely leave for the winter as I've seen a handful here and there this season. But now it is obvious more and more are making their way back northwards.
Great Blog as usual Travis. It was great running into you and your friends yesterday as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Ron, good seeing you as well! Wouldn't you know it I saw a lot more stuff today by myself. I'm so excited for spring and to ramp up my birding outings. Let me know if you ever want a 2nd pair of eyes wherever you might find yourself this spring!
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