Near Cow Island yesterday, I saw a tight gathering of
three loons in summer colors, and an apparently-mated pair of mergansers. This afternoon, a large hawk -- possibly a Broad Wing -- flew into the wind towards Mt. Shaw. Chickadees, Downies, Robins, Nuthatches, and Tufted Titmice are everywhere (as though they knew it's a good time to arrive).
Friday update: Four
Wood Ducks landed in open water about 6AM, and a song sparrow "opened-up" in song shortly afterwards. A Phoebe pair checked my porch beams for a nesting site, as they have for several decades. (They will not be deterred -- I've tried -- for decades). :rolleyes:
Saturday update: At daybreak, a large flock of crows gathered on the ice off shore. They were just walking around, giving soft squawks and gawking -- as though to "size-up" one another. Is this the bird equivalent of "rafting"?
A
Great Blue Heron flew overhead, heading north, about an hour before sundown. If this is the same "guy" as in previous years, he will repeat this flight every evening, all season long.
Thursday, the 22nd, a pair of
Goldeneyes swam by. They could have been
Buffleheads (same courting behavior -- all I could see at the distance). Several hours later, they appeared again about 2½ miles south of Cow Island. This evening a pair (one very distant, answering) of
Barred Owls started up about 10PM. It was just a "one-note" owl, and I took it to be a loon "warming-up".
The woods have been strangely quiet this past week -- possibly due to the recent heavy-construction truck traffic.