Didn’t get a chance to post yesterday but I finally made it out to owl banding, which was great — thanks for having us all Emily and Kim! I expected to have to leave before they caught anything but I was grateful that we got lucky with two saw-whets so early.

Loons have been steadily increasing and Long-tailed Ducks have been dwindling. Yesterday I had my first-of-the-year Eastern Phoebe and Osprey. Today I had two new species for this season’s count — Northern Shoveler and Red-throated Loon! I’ve been enjoying the east winds pushing many of the raptors over my head.

April 15
Canada Goose – 31
Trumpeter/Tundra Swan – 6
Mallard – 4
Northern Pintail – 16
Redhead – 8
Greater/Lesser Scaup – 15
Unidentified Aythya sp. 1
White-winged Scoter – 37
Long-tailed Duck – 194
Bufflehead – 2
Common Goldeneye – 4
Common Merganser – 30
Red-breasted Merganser – 120
Unidentified duck sp. – 79
Common Loon – 10
Double-Crested Cormorant – 34
Great Blue Heron – 2

Others:
Turkey Vulture – 88
Osprey – 2
Northern Harrier – 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 13
Cooper’s Hawk – 3
Bald Eagle – 13
Red-shouldered Hawk – 3
Red-tailed Hawk – 54 (at least one Western dark morph)
Rough-legged Hawk – 5
Sandhill Crane – 45
American Kestrel – 2
Merlin – 2

April 16
Canada Goose – 107
Wood Duck – 2
Mallard – 4
Northern Shoveler- 4
Green-winged Teal – 17
Redhead – 6
Greater Scaup – 10
White-winged Scoter – 56
Long-tailed Duck – 115
Common Goldeneye – 1
Common Merganser – 35
Red-breasted Merganser – 120
Unidentified duck sp. – 44
Red-throated Loon – 1
Common Loon – 17
Double-Crested Cormorant – 41
Great Blue Heron – 4

Others:
Turkey Vulture – 107
Golden Eagle – 1
Northern Harrier – 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 21
Cooper’s Hawk – 5
Bald Eagle – 7
Red-tailed Hawk – 34 (one Western dark morph and at least one Northern)
Rough-legged Hawk – 8
Sandhill Crane – 88
American Kestrel – 2
Merlin – 1