Thursday, November 17, 2005

New birds on campus

This afternoon I walked around the pond and was pleased to see a lone male Bufflehead on the far side of the pond. A female Northern Shoveler was also dabbling among the weeds with the local Mallards. We have about 3-4 inches of snow here now and the pond is very shallow so I'm not sure how long it will stay and draw waterfowl. Every night a substanial number fo waterfowl come into the pond to roost for the night but most arrive after dark... So it has been very hard for me to check this flock for other waterfowl this fall. The birds are typically gone by daylight too. The only non-typical waterbirds I've recorded in the pond up to this point are: Double-crested Cormorant (1), Pied-billed Grebe (4), Blue-winged Teal (1), American Black Duck (5), and the Bufflehead and Shoveler.
Still waiting for a campus American Tree Sparrow...
Oh - last week netted a single Bonaparte's Gull over the pond with a large flock of Ring-billed Gulls. I've recorded 92 species on campus since early August.

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