I went to Smithville today to rectify the big
mistake I made there Saturday. (On Saturday, I omitted the Crow's Creek
campground peninsula, reasoning that I'd seen anything in its main cove from the
Picnic Area peninsula. Wrong! All the action is in that cove this year!). The
Picnic Area peninsula is now closed and the "managed goose hunt" that annually
turns the campground peninsulae into hunting preserves, was underway, further
restricting birding there. I saw the following:
c. 25 Common Loons
2 PACIFIC LOONS (1 with a hint of chinstrap in the
Crow's Creek cove; the other from the dam).
14 Horned Grebes No Western Grebes.
75 Am. Pipits
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
Lots of divers and dabblers, but no scoters or
mergansers. No Bufflehead or Goldeneye yet. (Bufflehead should come in
soon)..
2 Ospreys.
I walked to the NW corner of Lake Remote looking
for Kristi's Winter Wren and Spotted Towhee, to no avail. I did hear a Great
Horned Owl hooting there.
Smithville is dynamic at this time of year.
Anything could be there tomorrow.