Early yesterday, on a dark and dull morning, I did a loop that included some favorite early spring spots on both sides of the Connecticut River.
In Hanover, NH, I found a pair of Canada Geese at Wilson’s Landing.
I traveled the very bumpy River Road to the large mouth of Grant Brook in Lyme. There were many Mallards, and three to four pairs each of Wood Ducks and Hooded Merganser. I don’t spend time trying to get an accurate count but rather give almost all my attention to photographing the birds closest to me. Still, they never seem to be close enough.
Here are some more photos of the Wood Ducks. In one photo a female Hoodie joined the Woodies, making two pair and a single for poker players (I am not).
Two pairs of Hoodies swam upstream.
Near the bridge a single Hooded Merganser came closer than the others. Fortunately, the road was not busy at 8 AM. I only saw one car. Perhaps the ruts discourage commuters from using this route. I was pleased to find that River Road is open now. It will close May 1 for hopefully a quick completion of the long-overdue bypass of the section that was falling into the river.
Along the Ompompanoosuc River in Norwich, VT, I found a pair of Hoodies just west of I-91. I stopped along Route 132 and photographed out my window using my car as a blind. One female gave me some long stares.
I found nothing during a quick tour of Campbell Flats. Along Old Bridge Road there were some Common and Hooded Mergansers, but they were mostly too far for a decent photo.
It was still early in the season for large duck gatherings like I saw exactly a year earlier. You can see those photos if you CLICK HERE. If you visit that blog you can see how much bright sun improves the quality of bird photos. And you can see a very early Pine Warbler that visited my yard and stayed through ice and snow storms.