Hello Birders, I went out birding in the vicinity of the Missouri River today and had 11 species of waterfowl, with the highlight being some 360 Common Mergansers crowding the backwaters of Snyder's Bend. I think waterfowl numbers may be around 20,000+ from New Lake down to Snyder's Bend, comparing current data with the CBC totals. Unfortunately the flocks are short on variety. If anyone wants to bird Snyder's Bend, viewing access of the waterfowl is limited due to last summer's flooding. The trail to the viewing deck was extremely muddy, and I ended up just walking along the lakeshore, where the mud was not too much of a bother since it was mostly sand. I walked south along the lakeshore from the parking lot, which provided great views of the swans, geese, and gulls to the southeast and the mergansers and eagles to the west. Plenty of birds can be seen flying by from the parking lot for those who would rather not walk. Highlights are below- Luton WMA N: 1 Northern Harrier Owego Wetlands: 1 Northern Shrike (west side) 1 Cooper's Hawk juv Brown's Lake: 1 Gadwall 4 Northern Pintail +320 Canada Goose and 5 Mallard Snyder's Bend: 10 Trumpeter Swan (one banded) 3,000 Canada Goose 2 Snow Goose 162 Mallard 53 Common Goldeneye 360+ Common Merganser 4 Ring-billed Gull 46 Bald Eagle New Lake: 8 Cackling Goose 1 Lesser Scaup 43 Common Goldeneye 1 Hooded Merganser +continuing 1000's of Canada Goose and Mallards from the CBC Good Birding, Tucker J. Lutter Bronson, IA
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