I’ve not been getting out too much the last few days, but yesterday Melissa rented a car and we went for a drive out to Starrigavan.
Weather: It has mostly been cloudy, though the sun shines through occasionally. Temperatures have been in the mid-30s to mid-40s. Snow levels have dropped as low as 1800 feet or so, though they have also been over 3500 feet. Today there was some thunder and hail. There have been a couple of days with some pretty strong winds also.
Birds: I have not been seeing much around the neighborhood or campus, though I have not really been looking too much.
There were a pair of Trumpeter Swans, two male Hooded Mergansers, and a couple of Green-winged Teal out at Starrigavan.
When we stopped by the channel yesterday, there were 17 scaups near the boat ramp on the island. I think there were both Greater and Lesser Scaups. There were few, if any, Long-tailed Ducks in the central channel when we arrived, though several flew in from the north while we were there.
There were loons in the channel and along the shoreline driving out toward Starrigavan. All the loons I could see well enough to identify were Common Loons, I think.
There were quite a few Common Mergansers at various points along the shore that we saw while heading out to Starrigavan.