Christmas Bird Count 2010

While some dyed in the wool birders were on the refuge searching for owls at four in the morning, I languished in bed until six.  :)  I’m all for the birds, but I’ve just reached that stage in my life where tromping through the marsh at that time in the morning just doesn’t thrill me any longer.

I met up with the group at the VIS a little later, and was assigned three other people to take along with me.  One woman even brought her poodle with her.  What’s up with that?  I like dogs, but this wasn’t the time or place to have a canine companion along in my opinion.  The pooch was pretty well behaved, and only barked when we left it in the car to do some of our counting.  Luckily, the birds were far enough away that the barking didn’t effect them.  The reason the owner put him in the Suburban is that he was walking in the cow pies.  I haven’t checked the back seat to see if I’ll be cleaning off cow pie paw prints tomorrow.  :(
Since I was the leader of our small group, today was not a day for taking pictures.  Two out of the three were pretty much beginning birders.  That’s not a bad thing.  They were able to point out some birds to me, they just didn’t know what they were.  However, I just couldn’t pass up a chance to try to get a shot of a bald eagle.  These were the only two shots I took all day.  This guy didn’t stay around to pose!  I could tell by the white head and tail that this was not one of the three eagles I saw last week.  So, there have been at least 4 bald eagles on the refuge in the past week.  That’s not very common.

With the areas I was assigned to count, we tallied over 12,000 snow geese, our most abundant bird for the count.  It was a pretty good birding day overall.  It remained overcast all day with surprisingly calm winds and temps in the 70’s and high humidity.  Of course, calm winds meant that there were probably more mosquitoes in the car than there were geese on the refuge!  :)  I didn’t have much skin showing, but the little buggers found every square inch that was available.  Can you say itchy and lumpy?  I guess I’ll just suffer in the name of science.  :)

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy

Soaring with the eagles

After working two nine hour days in the VIS, I was ready to see something besides those four walls.  :)  I’m sure Emma was also ready to see something besides the inside of the rig.  So, first thing this morning, we hopped in the car and made our way towards the public refuge roads.  Someone had also turned off the winds, and the below freezing temps overnight seemed to finally have an effect on the number of mosquitoes buzzing about.  (It’s about time!)  As I headed for Frozen Point, I noticed this eagle soaring over the moist soil units.  A Golden Eagle had been reported on the refuge a couple of days ago, so I pulled to the side of the road to get a better look.

As this bird came swooping down, many of the shorebirds and waterfowl resting on the water took flight.

And then, the fun started!  A second eagle popped up to join the first.  Turns out these are young Bald Eagles, not Golden Eagles.  If you look closely at the top bird’s tail, you can see how uneven the length of the tail feathers is.  That means the bird is still molting the tail feathers it first grew after hatching.  Young raptors, like young dogs, are usually a hoot to watch.  They’re still learning their stuff, have plenty of energy, and often make hilarious misjudgments. 

 

I remember a late summer/early fall day along Lake Ontario when I was in a blind trying to trap young red-tailed hawks for banding.  I had a pigeon out on a line to attract the hawks into the bow trap.  There was red-tail circling above, so I worked the pigeon a little.  Normally, a hawk will lock in on the lure bird and make a dive in for the prey.  This young hawk obviously didn’t have much experience as it repeatedly dove in and attacked a knot in the string to the pigeon!  Duh! 

As the two young eagles were careening about, a third eagle came to play!  That one didn’t stay around for long, but what a thrill it was to see three eagles today.  Bald eagles aren’t exactly common on the refuge, so I stayed put where I was. 

I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time!  It was kind of like watching an aerial “Dancing with the Stars.”  :) 

Oops!  A little misstep by one of the pair.  Maybe he’s going to flip his partner around.  Do-Si-Do!  Too quickly for me, the shenanigans were over.  Emma and I then continued around the roads, but nothing we saw could compare to soaring with the eagles.  :)

                                                                                                     THE END!!

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy