12/11-12/31

It has been a VERY busy December, and I haven't done nearly enough birding as I had hoped that I would during break. The few times that I have been out was on the way to work or Christmas shopping and took a dirt road to get there hoping that something would catch my eye. One of these times was after work were I took a detour to the DuBois Reservoir and then Kyle Lake on the way home. At the Reservoir I didn't pick up any new species, there was some ice cover and no waterfowl present. Just some canada geese, mallards, and mixed diving ducks. Among the divers were these hooded mergansers that were close enough to offer some not-so-terrible photos.

Hooded Mergansers at the DuBois Reservoir males on either side of bottom centered female Bufflehead female top centered

On the way home from the reservoir I swung by Kyle lake. I didn't see any waterbirds, but I did spend some time watching a female Hairy woodpecker in search of food.

Female Hairy woodpecker

a male will have a red patch on the back of his head, and a downy woodpecker will have black spots on the outer tail feathers

Female Hairy woodpecker

Female Hairy woodpecker

Female Hairy woodpecker scratching an itch

On 12/27, there was a good amount of rain coming down, so I hoped that this would put down some migrating waterfowl. I went to the DuBois Reservoir after work, and as it turns out, I was wrong again. I saw some mallards, american crows, canada geese, and some mixed divers. The immature snow goose that has been hanging around between the Tannery Dam and reservoir was present, and I got this shot of a flushing female hooded merganser.

Female hooded merganser

On 12/29, I ran to the DuBois Reservoir after work to see if I could come across any waterfowl photos, hoping that there would be free water with staging waterfowl closer to shore. There was a good raft of diving ducks in the center of the reservoir, and I got this shot of a female Bufflehead. She wasn't cooperative at all. As I approached her trying to keep large trees between us for cover, she would come out on either side searching for me, and once I got within 30 yards she seemed very timid, so I snapped a picture and let her be.

Bufflehead female

2011 was my first year actually counting and listing my observations. My list isn't as long as I would like it to be, I hadn't even broken 100 species. But, I observed all different kinds of animals and birds in the field, met some really cool people, and even took a few photos that didn't turn out too horrible. Hopefully 2012 has a few more species to offer, a few more hundred would be pretty cool, but I'll take what I can get. As long as I'm out, I won't complain.