 |
 |
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]