What a fine day to be outside and watch the birds watching us! The day started a bit overcast, which usually is not the best lighting for birding. Within the hour, the skies cleared a bit, the winds increased slightly, and cooler air moved into the ponds. The following folks joined NancyP and JacqueA for the outing: CarrieL, JanetFB, and LorettaD (and helpful husband John).
The ponds (1 east, 1 west, and 2) are all in good condition, although JanetFB and I thought pond 1 east looked a bit red and questioned the cause. We did not make it to pond 3.
A list of birds seen includes: great blue heron, American coots, cormorant, red-winged blackbirds (females), gadwalls, Northern shovelers, lesser scaups (350 estimated), redhead, blue-winged teals, buffleheads, ruddy ducks, mergansers, least grebe, American wigeons, Northern cardinals, yellow-rumped warblers, grasshopper sparrows, killdeer, and mourning doves.
For our first trip of the season, we were pleased with the variety we saw. I will report our findings to e-Bird.
A huge bunch of thanks to LorettaD and husband John, who tried to help start my battery, which opted to die on the road between pond 1 east and pond 2, and then stayed with me until Gentleman Simon from AAA joined our happy gang. Thank you to NancyP, CarrieL, and JanetFB who returned to visit and stay until Simon had the battery installed and my faithful car purring once more. I learned a useful battery tip: if the battery cells are dead, no amount of charging will help your situation.
Thanks for joining NancyP and JacqueA! And watch for upcoming bird outings.