After a vacation and snowstorm hiatus, we were back in action on a lovely winter morning. Very calm air produced near-glass surfaces for waterfowl observation, but diving duck numbers were much lower than they have been. Has some skim ice on the frigid mornings this week pushed some birds further into the bay, or has boat and eagle traffic reduced their comfort?
In fact, we were shocked to not find a single Barrow's Goldeneye, and only tallied about 40 COMMON GOLDENEYES. Clearly, goldeneyes were somewhere else today. Tallies of about 160 BUFFLEHEAD and 150 or so COMMON EIDERS were about or just below average, but 16 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, 6 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, and 4 COMMON LOONS were all well below average. 2 RED-THROATED LOONS were nice, however.
On the other hand, dabbling ducks have increased here dramatically. With rough counts of about 245 AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS and at least 75-100 MALLARDS, we knew there had to be something fun among them, and eventually we teased out a hen AMERICAN WIGEON for the bird of the day. 69 CANADA GEESE were also an uptick from recent visits.
We began the walk with an eye-level GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET or two in the parking lot, and then enjoyed watching two pairs of EASTERN BLUEBIRDS begin the process of delineating territories. 1-2 mixed species foraging flocks contained estimated totals of 7 TUFTED TITMICE, 4 WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, 4 DOWNY WOODPECKER, 4 BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADESS, 1 RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, and 1 RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. Later, we heard a singing NORTHERN CARDINAL and a calling CAROLINA WREN.