Pintails and Iceland Gulls - 25 Feb 2023
Overnight brought an inch of snow along with falling temperatures. This morning, while driving back to Crosswinds Marsh I encountered solid ice along Willow Rd. in Wayne Co. I was actually happy to turn down Clark Rd and get into potholes to avoid sliding off the road.
A pair of Sandhill Cranes were far out in field just north of Ash Rd.
I turned down Arkona Rd. to check the marsh and found dozens of Northern Pintail swimming in the half-frozen pond. Most took off when I stopped the car and Mark Schaller counted about 60 of them flying over Clark Rd. a few minutes later.
I scoped the pond a found a few more pair of Northern Pintail among the Mallard and Canada Geese and managed a few digiscoped images from maximum distance using EFL~2400mm.
I then drove over to Crosswinds Marsh and scoped the pond to look for more white-winged Gulls. A pair of Lesser Black-backed Gulls later I spotted an Iceland Gull swimming near the front of the gull raft, which was along the far banks of the pond. Again, maximum distance for digiscoping.
Feb 25, 2023 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
6 species
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 16
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 14
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) 53 Exact count. Mark Schaller reported 60 birds earlier in the pond off Arkona Road. Photos
Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) 2
Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) 2
Iceland Gull (Larus glaucoides) 1 Among large raft of mostly Ring-billed Gulls on inland pond. White-winged bull w/ small rounded head and black bill. Photo. Continuing.
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
