Friday, January 21, 2011

White winged Scoter and a few other goodies at Lake St Clair

Its been so gloomy out lately... Where is the sun? Well, it was sunny this afternoon so I figured I would get out there and enjoy some sun light & some good birds. What a great way to end off the work week!

Upon arriving at the Kayak Cove park I noticed a dark black scooter. I was quite sure it was a lifer, and upon referencing my trusty field guide... White Winged Scoter (lifer #222 )!  It was so cold out today... it was ridiculous. My goose bumps had goose bumps. I was probably only out there for 40 minutes.

My first attempt at age-based Gull Identification. Would this be 3rd, 2nd and 1st winter Herring Gulls (respectively)?

A Red Breasted Merganser. All three Mergansers were seen!

A Great Blue Heron flew slowly along the shore and then perched on a branch on Peche Island (top middle on the photo above). Only in the depths of January is this particularly interesting!
Greater Black Backed Gulls were around. I would love to get a very crisp, clear photo of  a Greater Black backed Gull.

This photo has several Bald Eagles just to the left of the middle of this photo. I think I'm counting about 6-8 'lumps'. Pretty cool! I  hope they stick around when I get my Kayak back in the water.

I still haven't yet seen a Long tailed duck. I think it might be my nemesis bird! This duck eludes me!

Overall, a pretty good post-work birding trip. I met up with a new blog reader (Kelly) who kindly brought her scope. I think I'm convinced that I'm going to buy one. I'm thinking about this one. Any thoughts on buying scopes? Are the specs on this one decent?

In Birding,
Dwaynejava

2 comments:

  1. I've been that cold... I had gloves on gloves Monday.
    Re: Gull ID-- You have only one Herring in photo #2; the others are young Ring-billeds. I couldn't help with ages, but the overall size and bill size, colour and shape are diagnostic. Gulls are tough!

    Sounds like a good day overall-- glad someone's getting sun.

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  2. My binoculars are Celestron brand and I still love them after 10 years. They were the best value for dollar, for sure. Thanks for inviting me out! The feeling in my fingers and toes eventually returned. Congratulations on the scoter.

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