Second Backyard Bird Count Day…

Another spectacular sunny day….

unfortunately, yesterdays wind had intensified to the point that any chance of finding birds to count was pretty much non-existent, at least as far as the song bird types went.  Yes, that is ice….my only walk was done earlier than usual and I don’t know what the temperature was with the wind-chill – but it was COLD!

there were a few ducks sheltering in the little bit of water in the first bay…

Mallard, that female Common Goldeneye (bottom left) and a couple of Green Wing Teal.  There was also a pair of Hooded Merganser but they didn’t make it into the picture.

The wind was no less brutal over at the log bay were there were some Mallard and Green Wing Teal sheltering along the edge of the point out there.

After a fairly unproductive walking count, we set out in the car…

Here is an estuary view from a different perspective….and out there we spotted the ‘rarity’ for the day….  There were a number of Mallard and American Wigeon, and mixed in with the American Wigeon…was a Eurasian Wigeon….since it was too far away for a picture….

This file photo (taken at Riefel Waterfowl Sanctuary) shows what a male American Wigeon looks like…

and this very poor file photo shows what a male Eurasian Widgeon (top bird) looks like with it’s reddish head and creamy yellow blaze.  This picture was taken a number of years ago at Miracle Beach on Vancouver, which shows how seldom these birds are seen.

Our road trip today then took us to Nicomen Island.  I will hopefully get pictures from that portion of the days count onto my other blog (http://birdingbyshantz.blogspot.com) in a few days time but I will mention here that we found what has to be a record number of Great Blue Heron – 68 of them!!!  and 224 Trumpeter Swans.

Bird Count results for just the Chehalis Estuary today:

Varied thrush – 4; Dark Eyed Junco – 4; Starling – 3; Red-wing Blackbird – 47; Steller’s Jay – 2; Spotted Towhee – 4; Mallard – 108; Bufflehead – 4; Hooded Merganser – 7; Gadwall – 7; Common Goldeneye – 1; Raven – 2; Green Wing Teal – 90; Song Sparrow – 2; American Wigeon – 33; Eurasian Wigeon – 1.