Notes From The Field

Since I had to forego my trip to the Oxbow this Saturday because my oldest son came home, and we needed to take care of some business while he was home. I instead went to Grand Valley Preserve this afternoon with hopes of catching some good duck action.

It did turn out to be a pretty nice day despite the threat of more storms and heavy rains later tonight. The temperature was in the 50’s and the place was as busy as I’ve ever seen. There were even a couple of kayakers on the large lake which spooked the ducks quite a bit. Folks were out enjoying the weather walking their dog or fishing.

Another superb view of the lake.

Even though the large lake had some really good waterfowl in it, it was the back lake that held a higher concentration of ducks. Being a smaller lake the ducks tend to congregate here.

I decided to walk down to the edge and get a closer look and to see if i could get some pictures without spooking any of them. I came up to them from the lower right side behind a mound of dirt. They didn’t seem to mind me being there so I did get off a couple of picture.

After I left this spot I went for a short walk on one of the trails to see if I can pick up any song birds. As in the past not too much luck when it comes to song birds. Maybe it was because it was later in the afternoon or the amount of people with dogs walking around. Whatever reason, ducks were the bird for the day.

The last time I was here it was really cold with this trail snow covered.

I did catch this Song Sparrow singing it’s little heart out.

I felt that this trip was a success, despite the lack of song birds. We did have a very good variety of ducks, and more Common Goldeneye Ducks than I’ve seen in awhile. Plus a good many Horned Grebes. I was pleased with the day. Just not long enough. Notable birds for the day include:

1. Hooded Merganser
2. Canada Geese
3. Ruddy Duck
4. Red Head
5. Gadwall
6. Pied-billed Grebe
7. Horned Grebe
8. Common Goldeneye
9. Coots
10. Lesser Scaup
11. Greated Scaup
12. Ring-necked Duck
13. Bufflehead
14. Turkey Vulture
15. American Wigeon
16. Killdeer
17. Northern Cardinal
18. Song Sparrow
19. Carolina Chickadee
20. Red-tailed Hawk