March 24, 2007 [LINK / comment]

Splendid ducks on Bell's Lane

I knew I was bound to get lucky ONE of these days! It was cloudy but warm for most of the day, but I was too busy performing feats of Web design wizardry to go outside for bird watching today. Fortunately, my quick trip to Bell's Lane just before sunset paid off handsomely. It's about time!

On and around the two ponds in the uplands area:

• N. Shovelers -- 8+ M (FOS)
• Canada geese -- 30+
• Red-winged blackbirds (dozens)
• Meadowlarks (singing everywhere)

On the farm pond:

• Hooded mergansers -- M, F (FOS)
• Buffleheads -- 2 M, F (FOS)
• Ring-necked ducks -- 3 M, F
• Mallards -- M, F
• Pied-bill grebes -- 3
• Lesser scaups -- 3 M, (FOS?)
• Ruddy ducks -- M, 2 F
• Wood ducks -- 8 M, 4 F
• Redhead (FOS)
• Canada geese -- 10+
• White-crowned sparrow

The late afternoon sunlight poked through the clouds just before I left, giving me breathtaking looks at the exquisite plumages of the Hooded mergansers and Buffleheads. I know that at least four of those were first-of-season sightings (in this area) for me, and maybe five, depending on whether the scaups I saw exactly one month ago were Greater or Lesser.