Good Morning Birders,

Alison Wagner, Patti Haynes, Ian Worley and I did a sociable and productive tour of the Lake and its surrounds from Charlotte Town Beach down to the Crown Point ferry crossing.  We had sharp eyes, and fresh-baked peanut butter cookies to fuel the hunt.  In total, we saw 42 species.  A few highlights:

800+ Golden eye at Charlotte Town Beach.  There were 3 Horned Grebes there and 2 Kinglets (which Ian and I missed) as well.  We looked for Barrow's, but didn't see the one that Craig spied a couple hours later.

Eagles at the Ferrisburg ferry landing and the New Haven compost site (behind the town garage)

The Screech Owl -- Jim Mead saw it earlier sitting outside the duck box (see his posting of 1/29 for directions).  When we got there, it was doing a Screech Owl camo routine by sitting inside the box and filling the entire hole with its head.  Only trouble for the owl was that -- as Jim said -- this is a pretty red individual, and the duck box was pretty weathered gray.  So rather than blending in, he stood out nicely for our viewing.

A female Ring-necked Duck on the ice by the Crown Point ferry.  We could not locate the Widgeon that had been seen there recently.  But, after we split up to head for home, Ian rode the ferry across to NY, and found it over there.

I added a couple pictures of the imm. Cooper's Hawk we saw (and a couple of an imm eagle that flew over our house in Moretown recently) to my idisk album.  http://gallery.me.com/beacon1#100060

Dutifully reporting,
Scott Sainsbury


Here's the species list that Ali, Patti and Ian compiled.   42 species
 
Black Duck
Mallard
 Ring-necked Duck
Common Merganser
Common Goldeneye
Horned Grebe
Canada Goose
Bufflehead
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech-owl (life bird for three birders)
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Bald Eagle
RIng-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Blackbacked Gull
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Bluejay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Golden-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Eastern Bluebird
Northern Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwing
White-throated Sparrow
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Snow Bunting
Horned Lark
European Starling
House Finch
Purple Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow