Finally a Good Day Birding

Two Tundra Swans on the island

Normally going birding is my plan for days off  in the winter that I don't have anything scheduled such as a fishing show. The two times I've gone in 2017 were so bad, I really haven't wanted to go since. I had Thursday and Friday off from work. I had so little motivation,  I went to two movies of Thursday. So Friday I decided I better go birding.

There was a Tufted Duck in Providence that was reported on Thursday. I had never seen one so I decided I should go look for it. Ironically, the spot it was seen was five houses away from my boss's house.  I drove down there. There was a guy that I run across a couple times a year (Don H) there. He has seen the duck mixed in with a bunch of Scaup. After a few minutes I saw it in my scope. It was a little smaller than the Scaup with a black back. The species is named because it has a small  feather hanging off the back of the head.

Besides seeing the lifer Tufted Duck, in the flock of Greater Scaup were Lesser Scaup, this was a first for the year. Across the bay was a  Bald Eagle, another first of the year (FOY) but more importantly, just awesome.

After I left Providence I drove down to Trustom. I saw the recorded  Tundra Swans.  Tundra Swans  seem to go to Trustom almost every year, why I don't know. While watching it, a Mute Swan beat the hell out of one of the Tundras. Not my favorite thing to watch. Other ducks included American Widgeon, Blue Wing Teal, both Scaup, and one of my favorites, Northern Pintails. Two rare species were also on the pond, Redheads and Eurasian Widgeon.  I saw the Redheads. I counted six, which is four more than I had ever seen before.  While at Trustom I also came across the popular song birds.

All in all, I saw four rarer species for our area. I got a lifer in the Tufted Duck. It was a fun day.

There were a lot of ducks on the pond yesterday