It was by far the best day in the past week for numbers and variety of waterfowl. Highlights included a very impressive 248 American Wigeon (almost double last fall's high count), 120 Green-winged and 66 Blue-winged Teal, 13 Lesser, 11 Greater and 61 Scaup species, and 2 Ring-necked Ducks among small numbers of a few other species. Less Loons were seen today (38) but 5 of them were Red-throateds. It was another slow day for shorebirds.
As I mentioned above, I spent the morning birding some nearby roads with a friend who was in town. By far the highlight of our morning was finding 11 Spruce Grouse, a group of 5 and a group of 6. One of the males actually acted aggressive towards us and strutted towards us in his display posture-- a very neat experience to say the least. Some photos of the hen and an immature are below. The woods were full of mixed flocks but the flocks were 98% Yellow-Rumped Warblers, White-throated Sparrows, and Kinglets.
Tom PrestbyWaterbird Counter
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