Observation 1 - Feb. 5, 2016

Today I did my first observation for WFB130. I went to Shelburne Bay at 11:30am. The temperature was 30F, and it was a cloudy and moderately windy day. I began with a walk down the trail by the Bay Park area, and not too long into my walk I heard the short whistle song of a Black-capped Chickadee. I followed the song into a stand of snags, and saw around 5-6 Chickadees. One was on the ground - hopping around - and the others were flying from snag-to-snag. After getting back on the trail and continuing to walk, I came across a less-defined trail that headed northwest. I followed this for a few steps and came across a wing of what appeared to be some species of Gull (see photos in observation list.) Back on the main trail, I encountered another wing about 15 m away from the first.

On my way back to the parking lot, I saw 27 Mallards (mix of males and females) just offshore, downhill from the parking area. There was also an American Crow sitting on the shore near the Mallards.

I continued my observations at the boat ramp area, and first spotted another group of Mallards just offshore from the boat ramp. There were 18 Mallards that I was able to count, but it also appeared that there could have been some additional (3-4) Black Ducks mixed in with the group. Also in this area were 20 Ring-billed Gulls and 1 Herring Gull, all resting on the ice at the mouth of the LaPlatte River. These gulls had their heads tucked into the feathers on their backs, and appeared as though they were trying to keep warm. There were a couple instances when a large gust of wind would come by, and some of the gulls would soar into the air with the assistance of the wind.

Overhead, I noticed what appeared to be a female Common Merganser flying northwest of the boat ramp area. This bird had a chestnut-brown head, and dark wings that had white secondary feathers. Just before I left, I also saw a flock of Canada Geese (16) flying in the same direction as the Merganser, and an American Crow pecking around in the parking lot.

Publicado el 05 de febrero de 2016 a las 10:20 PM por caitlindrasher