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This morning we decided to tour the lower Champlain Valley, starting at the Crown Point bridge and working our way back to Richmond. (By the way, yesterday we hosted 2 Rusty blackbirds in our yard in Richmond. I think this is the first time they beat the Red wings.) Saw only crows and pidgeons on the way down, that is until we pulled into the McCuen Slang Access.On the South side of the entrance road were at least 12 Rusty Blackbirds. About 20 yards into the lake was some open water occupied by 3 male (m) and 2 female (f) Hooded Megansers. Across the lake on the edge of the ice was a single immature Bald eagle. Not far away was a string of gulls including 1 Great Black-backed. In the trees near the water Red-winged Blackbirds were calling, but we didn't see a single red epaulet. On the way out we spotted a pair of Mallards on that little tongue of water the runs up to the road. On Rte (that's "Route") 17 we saw 15 Canada geese browsing on the North side of the road. Made a quick stop at Brilyea. Looked like it was starting to open up, but didn't see anything. A stop at Tri-town yielded a m Common Goldeneye and a number of commom Mergansers. They must not have liked the look of me since they beat a hasty retreat to the north. Except for some pack ice near shore the lake was wide open. On Lake street just above the intersection wth Tri-Town Road we saw a Red-Tail Hawk. (We saw two in just about the same spot on our last visit.) A little further on just above Goodrich Corner Road we spotted an immature Bald Eagle surveying the lake from a tree on the the extreme North shore of Potash Bay. Just below the old Yankee Kindom orchard we saw a band of Redwing Blackbirds on the ground - our first confirmed sighting of the year. Nothing at Button Bay, but we saw a Cardinal and a Red tail Hawk on Basin Harbor Road just east of the dead creek outflow. On our way to Fort Cassin there was a field full of Ring-billed gulls on the east side of Sand Road. There were also a handful of Canada Geese and a single m Mallard amongst them. At Fort Cassin we had some very enjoyable viewing. To the North across Porter bay were an immature and a Mature Bald Eagle sharing the same tree. (We saw two similar birds in the same tree on our last visit.) There was also a single Mature bird on a grassy point on the South side of the Bay. On Kellogg Bay to the South, we counted 3 Mature and 7 immature Eagles. On the way home we counted 6 Turkeys on the West side of Greenbush Road. All-in-all a rewarding trip for the last sunday of Winter.