Hi all, I went to Cone Marsh (Louisa County) today, my favorite early-spring birding spot in Eastern Iowa.
Not much new since Saturday. No hunters today so plenty of ducks and geese. Sightings below, in no particular order: --Northern Mockingbird was still in the yard at the house with bird feeders just west of intersection of V and 220th, where Dale Fye located it yesterday (thanks, Dale -- this was a bird on my list to look for today!). Also White-crowned Sparrows have joined the feeder birds there --Rusty Blackbirds, at Cone Marsh and also along Atwood just north of the marsh --singing Western Meadowlark south of G28 and Atwood --hundreds of Snow Geese aloft, few stopping --2 Sandhill Cranes (seen) --15 waterfowl species, including 5 geese sp. Bufflehead was new to the marsh for ducks (for me). Greater White-fronted Geese by far the most numerous of all the waterfowl. There were a few Snow Geese and Ross's Geese on the water at the NW corner of the marsh. Many Cackling Geese there today. Duck species were mostly divers. On the way home I checked Sand Lake (Iowa City) and Swan Lake (Hawkeye Wildlife Area), both in Johnson County, but no waterfowl on either. I tried to drive out to Round Pond (HWA) but there was water over the road. Diana Pesek Cedar Rapids [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]
