I visited Lake Royal today to see how the dredging and reconstruction was
going. I was surprised to find that some water had begun to fill up the
lake-bed. But it still exposes very extensive mud-flats, supporting what is
- for this lake and my neighbourhood - rather large numbers of waders: over
80 Solitaries (against a previous area maximum of 12), over 50 Spotteds
(against a previous maximum of 5), over 20 Lesser Yellowlegs (against a
previous maximum of 3), as well as a few Leasts and Killdeers.
About 8 Tree Swallows were around the nesting box. There was also a female
Ruddy Duck and - quite late - a male Lesser Scaup.
The real surprise, though, was a Lincoln's Sparrow, in the brush on the
east side of the lake, which popped up when I spished a singing Common
Yellowthroat. The Lincoln's was quite agitated, showing two tiny crests on
the sides of its head - which I had never seen before. This is the first
such sighting in my 50 years of monitoring my local patch.
Stephen Eccles
