Yesterday the sun blazed through the still-ice-covered trees in our yard before 6:30 AM.
By 8 AM I was witnessing an amazing duck (and Canada Goose) show in the mouth of Grant Brook in Lyme. Many hundreds of ducks, including over 100 Wood Ducks, were present. I used my car for a blind and photographed the show for about 30 minutes. A rough count of the photo below revealed about 60 Woodies.
At times it got crowded.
And at times one duck would cruise alone.
At times it seemed there were two males courting one female.
At times it was a Woodie or two and some Canadas.
Sometimes the ducks would take flight.
And sometimes there were pairs perhaps thinking about where to set up a summer home.
I made a 6-photo panorama of the scene out near the Connecticut River.
Here is a crop of a small part of this panorama. A rough count of this cropped version revealed about 100 ducks.
Along the East Thetford Road, I photographed through the windshield of my car — hence the poor quality — what I believe is a red-tailed hawk. I got a shot as it left its perch, and it appeared to have a red tail.
Clay Brook was quiet except for a pair of very distant hooded mergansers and a few Great Blue Herons flying around.
Heading north I got a photo of a Bald Eagle trying once again to hatch chicks. Hope they succeed this year.
I photographed another Great Blue Heron in the Pompy, again using my car for a blind.
From East Wilder I photographed some Buffleheads far below me in the Connecticut River.
Arriving home shortly after noon, the first bird I saw was “our” Pine Warbler. You can see it surviving an ice storm if you CLICK HERE. And for the Pine Warbler in a snow storm, please CLICK HERE. As you can see from this photo, ice was still present yesterday afternoon.
This warbler certainly flew a lot, but at time is seemed to prefer hopping.
The warbler seemed to really like our suet.
I have really gotten fond of this first-of-our-yard bird.
Then a small hawk arrived. At first I wasn’t sure if it was a mourning dove or a hawk. But I zoomed in and and got a few shots. It was a Sharp-shinned Hawk, thanks David for confirming the ID. Another yard-first in a week.
After the hawk left I did not see the Pine Warbler for the rest of the day or all this morning. But just after noon today it appeared along with about 50 Redpolls.
It has been an exciting few days, and migration is only just starting. I will likely post more blogs without announcing to the Bird Listserves, so if you want to get notified when they appear you can subscribe to my blog at the top right.