[NatureNS] Today's Birds

Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 17:28:54 -0300
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After having been away since Feb. 28, and now hearing reports of sporadic sightings of Vogel & the Lake Banook Am. Coot, I was able to head to Red Bridge Pond and Lake Banook today, to check on these birds.
I was prepared for quite a wait and a fair amount of searching for Vogel, the Common Gallinule but it was right there where it always has been, close to the daycare. I brought offerings of canned salmon, chopped smelts, crushed suet block and chopped salad greens and, of course, mixed bird seed to distract the ducks. There were very few ducks but those that were there, came eagerly to the beach area where I tossed around the seed. Wish I had my camera because Vogel was right there waiting for the food and fed ravenously. It looked good though, active & alert, and I was delighted to see it so quickly. So guess, it might still need some supplementation during this month anyway.
However, there was no sign of the American Coot by the Bannock Canoe Club, in fact there were no ducks, there, at all. I checked down at Sullivan's Pond but there too, were very few ducks, no widgeons, but, there were 2 mergansers. There were 6 mergansers in Lake Banook.
At my backyard feeders, I had a beautiful Northern Cardinal, Song Sparrows, Hairy & Downey Woodpeckers, BC Chickadees, Blue-jays, & Robins.
Saw many, many Warblers, Wrens, & Blackbirds in the areas of the UK that I visited, also, many (I believe) Trumpeter Swans, Coots (some on nests!) and Common Moorhens (similar to our Vogel but looked larger & heavier and all had bright red shields, that seemed heavier too). 
Oddly enough, though, I never saw any European Robins or Starlings! Regarding the latter, guess they have all flown 'across the pond' and now reside here 'in the colonies'! 

Cheers!

Gayle MacLean
Dartmouth

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