I'm not sure if I'm remembering all the birds we saw this morning, but my total is only 30 species. But we had some splendid looks at them--pretty close up views of a small flock of Greater Scaup with one lone Lesser among them, a gorgeous if uncooperative Horned Grebe (they apparently do not approve of paparazzi!), a nice little Brown Creeper, and, perhaps most beautiful of all though it was pretty far away, a huge flock of terns--I'm 90% certain they were Common Terns--banking and wheeling and twinkling in the sun. It was cold and windy--only 36 degrees when I left home, so people were pretty shivery by the end of the morning.
I'm leaving town for a couple of weeks, so Larry and Jan Kraemer, who are excellent birders and have a splendid Swarovski spotting scope, will be leading the Warbler Walks till I get back. This year I didn't get around to sending out any press releases, so attendance hasn't been too big and they've been lots of fun! Come and join us--Tuesdays at 6:30 am at the Western Waterfront Trail parking lot across from the zoo and just west of the TappaKeg Inn and Bar on Grand Avenue, and Thursdays at 6:30 am at Park Point at the big parking lot by the soccer fields and recreation building.
Canada Goose
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Merlin
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Common Tern
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird