Boreal, Merlin, Goldeneyes (2015 January) Sunday walk highlights.

For whatever reason this year our Winter walks on Sundays have been pretty quiet. They haven't been total wastes of time but highlights have been limited. On the 18th we started off with a nice Sharp-shinned hawk.

The group also discovered a small flock of Chickadees which included two or three Boreals.

They are usually a little more shy, and typically found in the conifers like this bird.

We wrapped up the day with this nicely back lit Raven.

Our next weekend (January 25th) we were closer to the river and so we found some great ducks.  This is a pair of Mallard drakes. I find them to be very tough birds to get in flight.

I didn't get alot of notice and this drake Common Merganzer almost totally got by me.

A little stroll on one of the nearby islands landed me this beautiful male Merlin.

I'll finish this day up with this female Lesser Scaup. It was the first time all week that this bird had been spotted in town.

Our February first our highlights of the day were some Barrow's Goldeneyes. This shot shows both the male and female Barrow's along with a drake Common Golden eye bringing up the rear.

Here is probabaly the best shots I have ever taken of a pair of Barrow's. The "pumpkin" orange bill is a great fieldmark for the female, whereas the male's ter drop white area is a distinguishing feature.

Ibelieve tht this is the first time the blog has hosted the female Barrow's. Find some time this week to put a little wild in your life!
Turbo