Yesterday afternoon we did a quick birding blitz to a couple
of our favorite locations, Cooper Creek Reservoir and Plat I Reservoir, fully
aware that this was probably our last birding effort while residents of Douglas
County. We were particulary curious to find out if our White Pelican that we
have been keeping tabs of at Plat I was still there, and it was. At Cooper Creek we found the greatest concentration
of birds, huge numbers of American Coots and Canada Geese congested the south-east
end of the reservoir. But, you never
want to assume that because at first glance they all appear to be coots or geese,
that that is all there is. We managed to
sort out some Mallards, American Wigeon, Northern Shovelers, and some
Green-wing Teals. After finishing our count and walking back to the car I took
one last look and noticed a little spec we might have overlooked. Checking with my binoculars I discovered this
small male Wood Duck making his was along the camouflaged edge of the
cattails. His brilliant colors made a fine parting gift for our last big effort
in Douglas County. Next week we move to West Salem and our birding efforts will
switch to Polk County.
Spectacular parting gift!
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