65 degrees, Wowie Wow, is it spring
already? I’m loving this weather. I drove by a couple of people who were
jogging in shorts and tank tops as I headed up to the reservoir to see what
migrants might be on the lake.
At the overlook I counted about 14 canada
geese on the lake and watched as a bald eagle soared over the trees. I was
certainly hoping for more birds than that. From there I walked up the road a short distance.
I didn’t realize it, but you can see much more of the lake from up there and I was able to see that
there were a lot of ducks near the opposite shore of the lake. I’d have to
drive over there if I wanted to check them out.
As I was driving to the other side I
realized this was hunting season. I have a blaze orange vest, but it does me
little good when I leave it at home. I had a red cap on but I felt I needed
something else to make me stand out. The only thing I could find in the car was
an ice scraper with a bright red cuff. It occurred to me that I’d probably look
a little silly walking through the woods carrying a red ice scraper, but I’ve
had a lot of practice at looking silly, and if it helped the hunters see me
better then okay.
There was a group of about 21 ducks on
the lake. I could make out four white male common mergansers. I wanted to
assume the rest of the birds were female mergansers. I’m sure some were, but
they were a little too far and too questionable to tell for sure with just my
binoculars. Near them floated five hooded mergansers that were easier to
identify because of their smaller size and, of course, the large white spot on
their heads.
I walked down the path through the trees
along the shore trying my best to see if I could find a better viewing spot for
identifying the ducks, but the ducks weren’t coming any closer. Four female
hooded mergansers swam away from the shore followed by another bird, a female
scaup. I knew from the bold white around the beak it was a scaup, but was it a
greater scaup or a lesser scaup? Drat. There are ways to tell, but at the time
I couldn’t bring any way to mind.
A stream flows into the reservoir that
you have to cross to continue on around the lake. Someone had placed a
few logs across the stream as a makeshift bridge. I inched my way slowly
across. The last thing I needed was to go sprawling into the water. When I
reached the opposite side I thought I heard what might have been a wren in a
bush in front of me, but I wasn’t able to find it. So I turned to head on down
the road and when I looked up there was a bald eagle heading straight for me.
This is the kind of close up view we all dream about at the hawk watch. You
feel like you can almost reach up and touch the bird. I thought for sure the
eagle would sail through the tree tops right over my head but he veered off
over the water where he flew a short distance and circled back. I got my
binoculars on him as he turned around again and came flying right in front of
me. He dropped down to the water putting his legs out to make a grab at
something in the water, but came up empty. I watched him lift back up into the
air and, wait a minute, was that another eagle. I’m certain I saw two eagles in
my binoculars, but I could only locate one when I removed my field glasses. The
other must have gone behind the trees. I’ve seen eagles flying over the water
looking for fish, I’ve seen eagles eating fish, but this was the first time I’d
ever watched an eagle fishing (and so close).
If you go birding at the reservoir maybe
I’ll see you there. Just look for someone carrying a red ice scraper.
