[nnasnet] Sunday at Hughlett Point
- From: Tom Saunders <birdnerd53@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: nnasnet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 13:11:00 -0500
It was cold and the moderate wind from the southwest made my eyes water but
it was still nice to be outside for a few hours mid-day. After reading
reports of the most significant icing of the Great Lakes since 1977 I was
in hopes of some northern waterfowl, especially red-necked grebes, but my
hopes were in vain. No grebes of any kind, and no loons or mergansers
(well, there were a few hoodies in the lagoon, but they don't count), so
I'm thinking there is at least a local shortage of small fish. Nevertheless
there were plenty of birds to see, just nothing particularly newsworthy.
Bald Eagles, red-tailed hawks, great horned owl, mute and tundra swans,
Canada geese, gadwalls, surf and white-winged scoters, buffleheads by the
hundreds, several large raft of scaup sp. inside Dividing Creek, ruddy
ducks, mallards, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, brown-headed nuthatches
(lots), robins, cedar waxwings, Carolina chickadees and tufted titmice,
Northern cardinals, white-throated and song sparrows, Carolina wrens,
belted kingfisher, turkey vulture, great blue heron, dunlin, sanderling,
herring and ring-billed gulls, Forster's terns.
Mute swans are an alien invasive species and I'm not fond of them on that
account but you'd have to have a heart of stone not to appreciate their
beauty and enjoy their spirited territorial contests, the loud beating of
wings on the water, the posturing and preening.
Tom Saunders
Balls Neck
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