I did a quick lap around Red Rock this morning and the main lake was >99% frozen. Consistent with Saylorville, there were no large flocks of puddle ducks (total of just 62 Mallards on the entire lake!), but I did see >800 Common Mergansers in a couple of small leads of open water off the dam. There were ~600 gulls in the dam area, >75% Ring-bills, plus single juvenile Thayer's, Glaucous, and Lesser Black-backed. There were still 106 American White Pelicans below the dam, but that was about it for notable birds.
Ada Hayden Park in Ames was >95% frozen this evening (it was still mostly open this morning) and in the remaining open water I saw 2 Gadwall and 5 American Coot among the many white-cheeked geese and Mallards. No sign of yesterday's swans. Steve Stephen J. Dinsmore Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management 339 Science II, Iowa State University Ames, IA 50014 515-294-1348 (office) [email protected] --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/membership.asp. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
