I spent the day birding my way through SE Iowa. All the lakes and ponds were ice-free, and geese were on the move. The waterfowl hot spot was the Mt. Sterling area in southern Van Buren County (including Fox Wildlife Area to the east and private wetlands to the west). In this area I saw the following:
19 waterfowl species Greater White-fronted Goose 560 Snow Goose 507 Ross's Goose 3 Cackling Goose 5 Trumpeter Swan 6 Gadwall 24 American Wigeon 8 Northern Shoveler 12 Northern Pintail 60 Green-winged Teal 42 Canvasback 20 Redhead 2 Ring-necked Duck 300 Lesser Scaup 100 Bufflehead 4 Hooded Merganser 9 Common Merganser 12 Bald Eagle 10 Northern Harrier 3 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 (same location as previous years, presumably nesting) Pectoral Sandpiper 1 Rusty Blackbird 52 Elsewhere, 2 Rough-legged Hawks were east of Mt.Sterling. FOY Purple Finch was a singing male west of Mt. Sterling. FOY Double-crested Cormorant was at Fisher Lake in Davis Co. 6 Trumpeter Swans were on the Des Moines River near Gray Eagle Wildlife Reserve in Ottumwa. A flyover flock of Snow Geese there contained at least one Ross's Goose. FOY Blue-winged Teal were at Bluewing Marsh in Wapello Co. FOY American Coots were in Washington Co. Flyover flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese with a few Snow Geese mixed in were seen in Henry in Washington counties on my way home. Also had my FOY Chorus Frogs, Spring Peepers, and butterly (Gray Comma) today. What a great day to be outside! Chris Edwards Solon, IA [email protected] --- 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]. Unsubscribe at http://iowabirds.org/Reporting/Listserv.aspx.
