March Bird Walk and February Totals...

I had a blast on Sunday, in spite of the wind which made things VERY cold! I went on a little birding trip to Lathrop State Park...and stopped later with some of the folks at Lake Maria (a private lake where we had to peer over barbed-wire fencing, quite a ways from the water.) The swans I've seen there before were seen again, but were too far to ID (again)...probably Trumpeters, though, Dave Silverman, an espert birder said. A couple weeks ago, when I was there last, I saw three Bald Eagles, too. Always a thrill! Lake Maria is apparently a staging place for Canvas-backs; there were lots there, too.

At Lathrop, I especially enjoyed seeing the Pintail (first duck-type photo here), Shoveler (silly, I know, but I like 'em; they make me think of Jimmy Durante), Cinnamon Teals are awesome and it was fun to here the peep-peeps of the Green-winged variety (the last picture here.) Way cool! Nobody saw the Rail, or the Wren...but some heard it. The Prairie Falcon circled low, right over-head, so a really good view was had by all; pretty much like the photo here, but without the gloved hand of a bander.

Here is the list of what we found:

Cackling Goose, Canada Goose, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Double-crested Cormorant, Swan sp., Northern Harrier, Prairie Falcon, Virginia Rail, Northern Flicker, American Crow, Common Raven, Horned Lark, Bushtit, Bewick's Wren, Mountain Bluebird, Townsend's Solitaire, American Robin, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, House Sparrow.

I'd say it was a Ducky Day!

In my own yard, the February birds included:

White-throated Sparrow - tan variant, (which I discussed here) Rock Pigeon - Checkered variant (dark), American Crow, Red-winged Blackbird, Blue Jay, Common Raven, Hairy Woodpecker, European Starling, Northern Flicker - Red-shafted, Downy Woodpecker, Mountain Chickadee, Black-billed Magpie, House Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, Dark-eyed Junco - Oregon, Pink-sided, Slate and Gray-headed, House Finch - red, yellow and orange variants, White-winged Dove, Eurasian Collared-Dove

Photos from Wikipedia