The kids and I braved the wind to walk down to the park and see what might be around. I thought the gusts of wind pushing spray across the bay was particularly interesting.
Mallard
Mallard Ducklings
I was a little surprised to find a Mallard with ducklings at Swan Lake.
Snow and Birds
Snow overnight with some scattered snow showers today left the ground covered in an inch or so of snow. Between the snow showers, the sun was actually shining for a good chunk of the day. Was nice to have another day of brightness as we approach the new year.
I did a little birding this afternoon, with the main goal to try and photograph a Lincoln’s Sparrow that has been visiting a feeder since at least late fall.
On a brief stop at Swan Lake, I was interested to see how aggressive the Trumpeter Swan was being with a couple of Mallards that were getting between it and the corn someone was tossing out. The swan would grab the mallard (male in each case) by the neck and swing it around a few times. The ducks seemed to get the idea and leave a little space around the swan. I thought it was funny to see the first year Glaucous Gull fly in and slip into the dense crowd of Mallards to try a bit of the corn. I didn’t get the impression it was much to the gull’s liking, as it didn’t make much effort to go after more.
Across the lake 24 or more Ring-necked Ducks were all gathered up in the open water near the little cove on the west side. This is the best time to observe the ducks, as when the lake is open, they tend to be scattered around and most of them are distant and hard to see very well. When the lake ices over completely they leave – and are rarely observed elsewhere. In the same opening was an American Wigeon – a bird I’ve not noticed lately.
I did get to see the Lincoln’s Sparrow. Wasn’t a great time for getting pictures of it, but did get one shot that was at least recognizable. Might try for a better photo on a future occasion when I have more time and the direction of the sun is a bit better.
Walk around the Lake
Rowan’s mittened hand for scale next to a Trumpeter Swan track at Swan Lake
There was a chance that frisbee might be played this morning at Moller Park, so the kids and I walked up the west side of Swan Lake to check it out. I figured in the likely scenario that frisbee was not happening, we could at least get some birding in – see if there was anything of particular interest as we head in to count week for the Christmas Bird Count this Sunday. As it turned out, there were a couple people playing catch, so we joined them for a bit, before continuing on.
Rowan was surprisingly interested in birding today, while Connor was much less so. Usually it’s the other way around. Rowan had played on the playground for part of the time Connor and I were playing catch and she opted to go with me along the Path of Hope while Connor decided to play on the playground for a while. I sent her off into the lower brushy area to see if there were any sparrows or thrushes lurking about. She ended up coming up through a (very) minor unofficial trail to try and sneak up on me while I was at the overlook checking out what was on Swan Lake (and there wasn’t much I could see). She wanted to return the way she came, so I went over to the parking for the path of hope – noticing mostly juncos and a few Pine Siskins in the parking lot and at the feeder across the street (earlier Rowan heard then we saw a couple of small flocks flying over – perhaps 30+ birds in all).
Walking down the road, Connor came out to meet me, but Rowan still hadn’t found her way out of the forested area. While waiting for her, Connor and I spotted a Downy Woodpecker – a bird I’ve only seen a handful of times around here over the years. I sent Connor to find Rowan so she could see it also, while I tried to take some pictures. The photos didn’t turn out that great, but fortunately it stuck around long enough for Rowan to get a look at it.
Rowan had found a bird skeleton in the bushes along the ‘trail’ she had been on. She picked up the skull and wanted to pick up some of the other bones, but it sounded like after looking away to get a stick to use, she couldn’t find where the remainder of the skeleton was. She thought the skull might be a sparrow, but I suggested a warbler was more likely, since there were still yellow feathers associated with it. Also, the bill looked better for a warbler, though she and I didn’t talk about that at the time. She carried the skull all the way home so we could keep it. At the time she was talking about trying to figure out what it was by looking in the bird book, but by the time we got home, I think she just wanted to eat lunch, and then forgot about that project.
Rather than retrace our steps, we continued around on Cascade Street, then down Lake Street. Connor decided to head on home to start lunch warming up, while Rowan and I stopped to check out the birds on Swan Lake. I was able to count 15+ Ring-necked Ducks, as well as some scaups and mallards near the radio station. At the peninsula there was the lone Trumpeter Swan, many more Mallards and a few gulls, including the first year Glaucous Gull.
Rowan noticed all the tracks in the snow at the peninsula and said she thought the swan had been walking around a bunch. I’m not sure what made her think they were swan tracks instead of gulls and mallards, but she realized the difference when a couple people came and spread some corn out for the birds. The swan walked over to get some, and then Rowan was able to check out the tracks where she had seen the swan walking. We were both impressed with the size.
Overall it was a quiet day – a bit of wind, but not too much, bird activity seemed pretty low, and there wasn’t a lot of precipitation. What did fall was kind of a heavy wet snow, but there wasn’t enough to add any depth to the thin ground covering that we got overnight.
Swan Lake Gulls
The gathering of gulls at Swan Lake this time of year provides a good opportunity to practice identifying them.