Birding Change

At the beginning of  yesterday’s Bird Walk it was a little disheartening to look out and find an almost empty river. Gone were all our winter visiting ducks; American Widgeon, Ring-necked Duck, Gadwall, and Common Golden Eye. These are all ducks I could depend on seeing daily. Evidently they have all taken off for their journeys to the north. Some Mallards have stuck around for handouts at the RV park across the river. Coots are still here in good numbers, I doubt they will ever leave, and we spotted a couple of Pied-bill Grebes. In the end the local birds, that is to say, the birds that are permanent residents here, showed up in good numbers and we ended up with identifications of 21 different species.