We set out on Middle Bar Road this afternoon, a beautiful day with only mild heat, but unfortunately also only a couple of new birds to add to the list.
The Bridge was really busy today with loads of fishermen taking advantage of the nice weather and swollen river. They all complimented us on our "beautiful little girl", Achille says it was because I dressed the baby in a white jumper with blue sandals. We didn't correct them. Right away we saw a flock (a gaggle?) of Canada Geese swimming against the current towards us. Not an uncommon bird certainly, but one of our personal favorites. In college I helped with Achille's wildlife project on the Aleutian Cackling Goose so this particular species is in our hearts.
The usuals were all there, the ever-present Lesser Goldfinch and Black Phoebes and quite a few Acorn Woodpeckers as well, nothing in the trees was too interesting to note. However we stopped in a shady spot overlooking the river where we noticed a pair of small waterbirds calling to eachother and diving. A quick peek through the binocs revealed them as Pied-billed Grebes. A species I was very surprised to see as I did not know that they lived around here. We also saw a Western Pond Turtle basking nearby and a mamma Mallard leading her 5 young ducklings downstream where they attempted a water take-off unsuccessfully.
Our goal was to make it all the way up to the gold mine near Paloma but we turned around after a couple of hours so we could pursue our other duties for the day which included trying to persuade the boy to eat and sleep. He got his 18 month shots yesterday and he's been extra crabby today.
Tomorrow I plan on heading out to Volcano to do a little geocaching and of course, birding.
The Bridge was really busy today with loads of fishermen taking advantage of the nice weather and swollen river. They all complimented us on our "beautiful little girl", Achille says it was because I dressed the baby in a white jumper with blue sandals. We didn't correct them. Right away we saw a flock (a gaggle?) of Canada Geese swimming against the current towards us. Not an uncommon bird certainly, but one of our personal favorites. In college I helped with Achille's wildlife project on the Aleutian Cackling Goose so this particular species is in our hearts.
The usuals were all there, the ever-present Lesser Goldfinch and Black Phoebes and quite a few Acorn Woodpeckers as well, nothing in the trees was too interesting to note. However we stopped in a shady spot overlooking the river where we noticed a pair of small waterbirds calling to eachother and diving. A quick peek through the binocs revealed them as Pied-billed Grebes. A species I was very surprised to see as I did not know that they lived around here. We also saw a Western Pond Turtle basking nearby and a mamma Mallard leading her 5 young ducklings downstream where they attempted a water take-off unsuccessfully.
Our goal was to make it all the way up to the gold mine near Paloma but we turned around after a couple of hours so we could pursue our other duties for the day which included trying to persuade the boy to eat and sleep. He got his 18 month shots yesterday and he's been extra crabby today.
Tomorrow I plan on heading out to Volcano to do a little geocaching and of course, birding.
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