Monday, November 20, was a good day at Riverlands, with two life birds and one year bird. The life birds were Long-tailed Duck and Glaucous Gull; the year bird was Black Scoter. I went after work with a friend. Our plan was to find White-winged and Black Scoters and the Glaucous Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gulls that had been reported. The Long-tailed Duck was posted to mobirds shortly before I left work. It was clear and relatively warm out, so we were looking forward to a good afternoon.
The Long-tailed Duck was in close with a small raft of Canvasbacks and scaup and was doing little diving; she was easy to see. In past years, my unsuccessful attempts to find Long-tailed Ducks that had been reported were made on frigid days, with bitterly cold wind blowing in my face while I was trying to spot one duck amongst thousands. I like to think I can find a bird under challenging circumstances, but I was glad for this very pleasant viewing experience.
Another birder joined us and found the Glaucous Gull, which stood out from the smaller Ring-billed Gulls.
It was thrilling to watch the gulls in the waning afternoon light stream into Ellis Bay to roost. The changing light on the plumage of the Glaucous Gull played tricks on us. We thought for a while that we had two birds. But we only ever saw one at a time, and we saw the color of the bird we were watching change with the light. A good lesson.
On Friday, November 24, I made a quick trip over to the Hwy. 111 side of Horseshoe Lake in Madison County, Illinois. I saw three American Kestrels and no little birds on Bruns/Bischoff Rds. and a few Ring-billed Gulls, some Mallards, and 4 scaup on the north side of the lake. There was more species variety and greater numbers of birds in my backyard.
I haven’t seen the tailless Song Sparrow in the yard for several days and think a predator may have nabbed it. The House Sparrow flock is maintaining its numbers (I wonder whether the British government would consider funding my little urban breeding project). White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos show up every day.
There was a small flock of cardinals flying from tree to tree in the alley this morning. A male and a female have been visiting the yard, but this is the first time I’ve seen more than two from the window.
There is a 40% chance of snow on Thursday! The forecast is for a high of 36°, which will be 30 degrees colder than it is on the back porch right now. Friday afternoon will be a good time to take a turn around Bruns/Bischoff Rds. or maybe to take a trip to Riverlands.
Photos
I’ve set up a page for thumbnails of some of the photos I’ve posted in Urban Birder. It can be accessed here. Eventually it will be more of a gallery.
Update, July 13, 2010
My photos are now at sherrymccowan.smugmug.com.