One report I didn't make on yesterday's Eagle Bluffs trip was that we  
saw a small flock (15-20) of American Pipits.  It was a new bird for  
both Laura and I.  I needed to do some research to confirm what we'd  
seen.  They were hanging out with the Yellow-rumped Warbler that was  
also feeding on the mudflats (or probably it was the other way  
around).  Luckily it was one of the first birds I saw this morning on  
a field trip with Susan Hazelwood and Marcus Janes.  Cute little guys.

Lottie Bushmann
Columbia, MO
Boone Co.



On Feb 26, 2011, at 7:43 AM, Mike and Lottie Bushmann wrote:

> Laura Pintel and I had an incredible birding day yesterday here in  
> the mid-Missouri area.  It started at 7 in my yard with a Barred Owl  
> flying in close with a breakfast mouse.  He stayed around the yard  
> for quite a while munching.  We headed to the Forum Nature Area for  
> a snow walk around 8:30.  As we approached the ponds, we paused to  
> watch 2 Canada Geese performing what appeared to be a beautiful  
> ballet of arm movements.  We stood in awed silence as we watched  
> them mate.  We had never experienced the beauty of that moment  
> before.  The area was very birdy.  We saw a Mockingbird, Song  
> Sparrows, Mallards, 1 Northern Pintail, Gadwalls, American Tree  
> Sparrows, 1 Fox Sparrow, 1 Swamp Sparrow,Juncos, 8 Killdeer flushed  
> by a Cooper's Hawk (at least that's what looked like happened), the  
> pair of Red-Shouldered Hawks sitting in the giant Sycamore tree  
> together, and several Blue Jays and Cardinals.
>
> Feeling very lucky to have a snow day on such a birdy day, we  
> decided to drive down to Eagle Bluffs at 3:00.  We've been there  
> several times in the last week, but this was the most birdy it had  
> been for us.  As we drove in, there was an American Kestrel perched  
> on a power line with a bird in his talons.  We watched him for quite  
> a while with that amazement/revulsion at seeing a bird eating  
> another bird.  From there it just got better and better.  The roads  
> were absolutely passable.  I drive a front wheel drive van and had  
> no trouble.  The only thing missing for us was the pelicans.  We saw  
> Horned Larks, Juvenile and mature Eagles, Canvasbacks, Pintails  
> (lots!), Mallards, Gadwalls, 1 Green-winged Teal, Pied Billed  
> Grebes, Coots (25+), Northern Shovelers, Hooded Mergansers (40+) as  
> well as Song Sparrows, 1 Savannah Sparrow, lots of American Tree  
> Sparrows and a Yellow Rumped Warbler feeding on the mudflats.  The  
> highlights were seeing a flock of Snow Geese in flights just as they  
> were taking off.  We didn't see any on the ground though.  Then we  
> saw the Great Egret that Carol Weston reported earlier in the week.   
> He posed for some nice pictures.  We also saw at least 15 Great Blue  
> Herons.  The nice thing about all the water fowl is that they were  
> all in the channel ponds and we could see them well with binocs  
> which is great since we don't have a scope.  There were NO birds in  
> the very back pond where the pelicans were last week.  That  
> surprised us.
>
> That's all for now.  Will post pictures later.
>
> Lottie Bushmann
> Columbia, MO
> Boone Co.
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The Audubon Society of Missouri's Wild Bird Discussion Forum
Questions or comments? Email the list owners:
mailto:[log in to unmask]