Hello all! We made a trip to Lake Byllesby today and got quite a nice haul of new year birds. Our first stop was the usual west-end of the lake, where we looked for about 40 minutes and spotted some fly-by *Sandhill Cranes, *many immature *Bald Eagles, *two of our first *White Pelicans, *our first *Song Sparrows *of the year, about 4 or 5 *Greater White-fronted Geese, Canadian Geese, Mallards, Wigeons, Shovelers, *and some peeps that were too far away to see. We then were pointed to a huge V-flock of *Snow Geese *and some *Blue *morphs flying very far overhead. The geese circled the lake in a huge ring, then flew back over us out west.
We then headed back onto the highway and drove down to the little swamp on the west side of the road (before the construction site and before the bridge) to see the *Snowy Egret *in perfect view, very visible. Caught his golden slippers and everything. Then we headed down past the bridge and took the left into the field, spotting a few *Horned Larks, *and heading down to the boat ramp. We saw a flock of *Double-crested Cormorants *fly in, and saw our first *Phoebe *of the year. Such a cute bird. Have a great spring everyone! - Leo WM
