Three of us birded Horseshoe Lake this morning, looking primarily for sparrows, ducks, and grebes. There was a hunt going on on the Highway 111 side (ducks were fleeing the gunshot), so we didn’t check out Walker’s Island. We did drive to the north side of that part of the lake, where we found 4 Redheads (2 male and 2 female), as well as 7 Horned Grebes (6 together and 1 alone). There were also at least 20 Pied-billed Grebes, some Bonaparte’s Gulls, and hundreds of pelicans.
On to the 203 side and a sparrow bonanza. Near Gateway Sand we saw Lincoln’s, Swamp, White-thoated, and White-crowned, and a Dark-eyed Junco. We then moved on to the wet spot where there’s growth of taller vegetation in the field off the D-shaped parking lot. There we observed many, many Savannah Sparrows, a few Swamps, and 2 LeConte’s Sparrows. The LeConte’s were very cooperative, giving us good, close-up looks at them.
There were also meadowlarks singing, as they were 2 weeks ago.
There were a couple of Northern Pintails in the duck impoundment, and we found a late Snowy Egret.
The list
- American White Pelican
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Horned Grebe
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- American Coot
- Mallard
- American Wigeon
- Gadwall
- Blue-winged Teal
- Ring-necked Duck
- Redhead
- Northern Shoveler
- Northern Pintail
- Ruddy Duck
- American Kestrel
- Ring-billed Gull
- Bonaparte’s Gull
- Mourning Dove
- European Starling
- Northern Mockingbird
- Savannah Sparrow
- Swamp Sparrow
- Lincoln’s Sparrow
- White-throated Sparrow
- White-crowned Sparrow
- LeConte’s Sparrow
- Song Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- House Finch
Anything I’ve forgotten will be added later.