Christmas Bird Count Day

Today was the day the Christmas Bird Count was being done in our area, and as is so often the case, the birds must have known it because it was so quiet compared to how it has been lately.

Fortunately...

the flock of Common Redpolls showed up, in fact it has increased in size.  There are 8 of the active little birds in this photo.  The Evening Grosbeaks also cooperated, coming to my feeders just as the counters were going by.

there was nothing going on over at the log bay which is getting dryer and dryer.

We wandered over to Harrison Bay after lunch...

and it wasn't any better.  This was the sum total of Canada Geese, while for weeks we've been looking at fields full of them.

What did show up that we hadn't seen before this fall were...

American Coots.....  Quite a big flock of them.  The Ring-neck Ducks were still there too although they've moved from the spot they've been at for the last week or so.

Mid afternoon I decided to go for a 'dog less' walk over to the park just to see if it was a bit more active than it had been in the morning, and fortunately it was....

big flock of Black Cap Chickadees going all through the bushes all around the 'bay'.

the female Belted Kingfisher that is normally over there, but had been no where in sight in the morning for the 'count', was back.

Quite a few ducks, including, of course, Mallard...

a pair of Hooded Merganser....

and a number of Green-wing Teal, like this guy who had been so busy working away in the little puddle of water he hadn't realized I was there.  This is a species that doesn't normally tolerate anyone being too close.

there was also a fair amount of Bald Eagle activity along the shoreline...

and in the nearby trees.