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| Snow Geese, one of the species I didn't see this weekend. |
When I started this blog I promised honesty. Well, I had the last two days off and up until the last hour I couldn't find a target bird to save my life. I am not keeping a year list this year, but I still want to see the rare birds like everyone else.
My "weekend" started yesterday morning at Francis Carter Preserve. There had been a Northern Shrike there on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It was not seen on Thursday but I hoped it was just overlooked and would be around Friday. The weather on Wednesday was pretty warm. Even during the night it was in the 40's and the wind was SW. This would be perfect conditions for the shrike to head home. Still, I went to Carter with a positive attitude. For no other reason, it would be a lifer for me. Three very cold hours later I left knowing I tried my hardest to find it. While I was at Carter I ran into Joe Koger. We decided to bird the Moonstone Beach area. He was hoping to see Snow Geese, Short Eared Owl, American Bittern, or possibly the Rough Legged Hawk that was around last week. I had seen all these birds but Joe hadn't.
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| One of the many Lesser Scaup at Trustom |
We dipped on them all. There weren't any geese in the fields. Then we walked up Moonstone Beach Road hoping to find something good like a Rusty Blackbird but all we found were a few feeder birds. Joe went to Deep Hole and I went to Trustom. I was hoping to get the Canvasbacks that have been there since ice out. I walked out to Osprey Point with my scope. I saw the large flock of Scaup close to the shoreline. I scanned them at least five times but there wasn't a Canvasack to be had. I then moved in the other direction but there were very few ducks on the windy side of the point. After dipping at Osprey Point I walked over to Otter Point and saw two Green Winged Teal.
This morning a bunch of my friends and I met at Great Swamp at 8am. We were hoping for any early migrant but really wishing for Blue Winged Teal. Though it was cold, we were pleasantly surprised the wind had died down overnight. To make this long post come closer to end, I will summarize. We did not see any migrants including teal. The best bird we saw was a soaring Bald Eagle. However as we were walking out, we found out that a pair of Blue Winged Teal were at Mill Pond.
So off we went. When we got to Mill Pond we split up. Sue, Jan, and Linda took the blue trail overlooking the pond. Tim and I went towards Route 1 and scoped the pond from inside the guard rail and we bushwacked to the waters edge. Both of us paid the price for that decision by stepping in mud well past our hiking boots. Despite two hours by all of us, we never found either Blue Winged Teal or the Green Winged Teal they were associating with.
Redemption
Everyone else left by the time Tim and I made it back to our cars. Tim decided to go home for lunch. It was still only 1 pm so I decided to go to Beaver River Park. My luck changed as I opened the door to my car. I heard a Red Shouldered Hawk. When I walked past the playground to the woods, the hawk flew right over me from behind an landed in the closest tall tree to me. I didn't get a photo but it was so close that I could make out field marks with the naked eye. When it turned in my direction and saw how close it was to me it took off. I watched it through my binoculars as it flew to the other side of the park.
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| Lucky view of a Woodcock |
I walked a little further down the trail and saw a small mixed flock. I waited around for a minute and saw a Rusty Blackbird hopping around the mud of a small stream. I've seen Rusty Blackbirds before, including the amazing flock in Cranston last month, but this was the first one I've found without a report. Not a bad first five minutes at the park. I also found eight Wood Ducks, two Fox Sparrows, and a feeding woodcock. I was having so much fun that I decided to do the trails a second time!
Today was one of those reasons I love birding. I spent the better part of the last two days dipping on every bird I hoped to see. Then all of the sudden I run into some really great birds. Other than the Wood Ducks I didn't see anything I haven't seen this year. However, I really enjoyed seeing them. The Rusty Blackbird was hopping around only about twenty feet from me and the Woodcock was feeding in an open woods. Needless to say, with the warm weather next week we should start seeing those early migrants we jumped the gun on today. The next three weeks will be fun!