After yesterday’s epic adventure (my body complained last night), I thought
today would be anti-climactic. Boy was I wrong.
I got a late start, but still left the house with 8 birds, thanks to the
Nuthatches and Pine Siskins, et. al. Still, it was relatively uneventful
until I got back from Ann Morrison and stopped at the rest room at ESP. As I
came out the door, I saw 2 very large birds flying around Quinn’s Pond. Two
adult Bald Eagles were harassing the gulls, and the sky was suddenly filled
with the gulls that had been floating on the pond. One of the eagles dove
down and I thought it was going to dive for a fish, but instead it did a
little feint at a nearby gull that immediately squawked. I looked around for
someone to share it with and finally got a passerby to take out his ear buds
long enough to hear “Bald Eagles!” and then he put the ear buds back in. Oh
well.
The whole time this was happening there was a Merlin in a tree by the river
and he seemed totally unimpressed (kind of like the ear buds guy). A little
further down the Garden City side I found a perched Cooper’s Hawk that
wasn’t even trying to hide. Maybe he’d just eaten.
Then, at the Garden City Senior Center, I saw a flock of birds go into a
tree on the other side of the street. I assumed they were Starlings, but it
turned out to be at least 50 Cedar Waxwings. Some of them were doing some
“flycatching,” but what self-respecting insect would be out on a day like
this? Anyway, this is an area where I saw a huge flock of CEWA’s in the rain
about a week ago, and 2 days ago I counted 24 Bohemians in a nearby tree.
Needless to say I’ll be keeping an eye on the area.
The rest of the ride included another Barrow’s Goldeneye near 45th St., 2
Great Blue Herons standing on the TOP of the grandstand at Les Bois,
Ring-neck Ducks on the pond at Les Bois, and Hooded Mergansers all over the
place.
My final tally was 38 birds in less than 16 miles. So a better “birds per
mile” rate than yesterday and less work.
Tom McCabe, Boise