This morning Ed Thelen and I circled Spirit Lake and the calm water was conducive to seeing birds way out on the lake. We found three Surf Scoters, two at Angler's Bay and a singleton towards the lake's south end. There were about twenty Common Loons, lots of Horned Grebes and a couple dozen Greater Scaup. A smattering of other divers and dabblers were there but the first big migratory push of waterfowl has not happened yet. A Northern Shrike also appeared to chase juncos and tree sparrows around.
This afternoon I found two Surf Scoters at Lost Island Lake in Palo Alto county and a juvenile Thayer's Gull was with Ring-billed, Herring and a few Franklin's Gulls feeding on the dead carp at Trumbull Lake in Clay county. There were also about a thousand Am Crows taking advantage of the situation. Several Greater Yellowlegs were in the shallow water and some smaller shorebird species I could not identify from my long distance view of them. Lee A. Schoenewe Spencer --- 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/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
