In the afternoon as a reward for my morning good deeds I decided to go out and see what I could find. I headed to Lake Smith but couldn't find the Common Merganser. Next I tried Lynnhaven Inlet, but the only new bird I found was a House Sparrow. I couldn't let that be the subject of today's blog, so I decided, somewhat in desperation, to fork out the money and see what was on Island #1 of the CBBT. I did manage four new year birds there - Ruddy Turnstone, Greater Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, and Purple Sandpiper. The upper photo is of a mixed flock of scaup, and it's your challenge to decide which are Lesser and which are Greater Scaup. The lower photo 
was also taken on the CBBT. The quiz for this photo asks, "How many species can you detect and what are they?" Good luck.Tomorrow I'll be getting my act together for the TX trip, so I doubt I'll add any new year birds. But who knows! I certainly wasn't expecting a Pacific Loon from my yard.
By the way! When I got home from my bird search this afternoon, there was an email from Debbie Schroeder telling me that she saw the Common Merganser from her house. The time she gave was not long after I left Lake Smith. Ugh! My total is currently 116.
In the quiz photo,
ReplyDelete7 Long-tailed Ducks
7 Surf Scoters
1 Herring Gull
1 Common Loon
1 Red-breasted Merganser.
Hi Bob! Neat blog. I will look forward to keeping up with your journey this year through your blog. My son is 6 and enjoys birds so I will show him pictures from the blog also. He will enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI hope you Verizon Wireless Mi-Fi does all you need it to! Have a great trip.
Steven-Verizon Wireless Tech Support
It took all the the way to Jan. 6th to see a House Sparrow?! Maybe that should be next years project, see how far into the year you can go without seeing one.
ReplyDeleteI'll say the top center is the only Lesser in the Scaup shot.
Best of luck with the Big Year, it sounds like a blast.
Alan
Ack, I didn't realize the picture was bigger than my screen and that I needed to scroll.
ReplyDeleteIn the upper row I'll say the two ducks farthest left are Lesser.
In the lower row I'll say the one farthest to the right is a lesser and the one duck that is making up a center row to the far right is a lesser as well.
Alan
Bob, this is great. Keep us posted as you prosecute your quest. Diane Tennant's article in the Pilot this morning is fantastic. Read it on line and plan to share it with some friends and family who wonder what I'm doing some times. Tom Saunders
ReplyDeleteIn the bottom picture is:
ReplyDelete7 Long-tailed Ducks
7 Surf Scoters
1 Herring Gull
1 Common Loon
1 Red-breasted Merganser
In the top 3 Male Lessr and 3 male Greater the females i can't tell.
Joshua G.
Age 11