The common teal was visible again at Huntley Meadows this morning. When I
arrived about 8:00 Ed Eder had already found the bird. It was
intermittently in view from the platform in the middle of the marsh. I also
refound it easily from the tower.
There were 600-700 geese visible from the board walk and tower, but I was
unable to relocate the greater white-fronted goose seen last weekend.
A pair of bald eagles flew over the marsh about 9:00 or a bit later. They
were taking turns flying at each other but I couldn't tell whether they were
fighting or flirting. I've noticed in other contexts that it's sometimes
difficult to tell the difference. One was an adult and the other still had
a small amount of brown in the tail so was presumably not fully adult.
There continue to be good numbers of waterbirds at Huntley. In addition to
the single common teal and many C geese, there were a few hundred mallards,
perhaps 80-100 other green-winged teal and 20+ pintails and shovelers.
Smaller numbers of gadwall and pair of ducks together that looked like one
black duck and a black x mallard (it looked like a black duck but had a
mallard-yellow bill).
A largish flock of sparrows (100+) was hanging around the entrance to the
boardwalk. Most were song and white-throated but I saw a few swamp sparrows
and 3 field sparrows. Most of the usual winter species were also present.
There was a hairy wp near the visitor center.
