Today I watched offshore here an undulating raft of Redheads (~500) accompanied by 26 Ring Necked Ducks, 2 Buffleheads, 1 Golden Eye, 4 Lesser Scaup, 1 Greater Scaup, 1 Canvasback, 18 mallards, 16 Black Ducks, and nearby were 8 Red Breasted Mergansers. 5-600 Canada Geese were in attendance, along with a Herring Gull.
Pretty easy birding: I just stood on the cliff next to a large tree (for camouflage) and enjoyed and counted, then trotted down the RR track as the ducks moved away and other ducks joined them. Feeder birds included 23 MO Do, and the single Starling who was here through the really cold days, has now shown up with 30 of his best friends. A Lesser Black Backed Gull flew over and an hour ago I was lucky to spot from the kitchen a mature BALD EAGLE sitting in my dying White Oak tree on the cliff overlooking the lake! Maybe that is why the returning raft of Redheads, et al., left again in a big hurry. Neighbors have reported several sightings of both a mature B Eagle lately, and an immature one. Donna L. Scott 535 Lansing Station Road Lansing, NY 14882 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --