Garth Riley led our November 4th walk at Colonel Samuel Smith Park. The early morning rain stopped just before 9:00, making ideal conditions for finding birds. There was lots of activity in the bushes with small flocks of sparrows, kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers found in several places along the way. We spent most of the time along the park shore scanning the lake and the shoreline rocks. Although we failed to find some of the hoped-for species like Snow Buntings and Purple Sandpiper, we found a few Dunlin and a Greater Yellowlegs. We also watched several thousand Red-breasted Mergansers migrating west along the lake.
Most of our winter waterfowl have yet to arrive, but we found a few of our typical winter ducks including Goldeneye, Bufflehead and Long-Tailed Ducks. Despite missing some expected and hoped-for birds, we managed to find a surprisingly high total of 43 species during the walk. Here’s the full list:
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