I scouted for the Dec 19 Fairmont CBC yesterday. As much as anything I wanted to check ice conditions. I looked at 9 of the approximately 20 lakes in the count circle.
I was very surprised to see that almost all water bodies are open. Some small ponds are even open or partially open. Unless something changes dramatically, I believe there will be an unprecedented amount of open water for the Fairmont CBC which started in 1990. Despite all the open water - or maybe because of it - diversity of waterbirds I saw was much lower than I expected. My optics are not the best, so many distant birds were left unidentified. Species present included: Mallard (certainly hundreds) seen. I would have expected more. Canada Goose (thousands, maybe tens of thousands) Northern Shoveler (8 seen near shore at Lake Sisseton) Bufflehead (one on George Lake) Common Goldeneye (10s, all assumed to be Common) - widely scattered on open lakes in area Common Merganser (10s, widely scattered on lakes in area) Scaup (~10, all lesser or assumed to be lesser) I was very surprised by the low diversity of goose and duck species I noticed and I was also very surprised to not see any gulls, kingfishers, herons, cormorants, Rusty Blackbirds, grebes, etc. If present they have many places to hide this year. Closer examination may bring surprises. Only other species of mild interest encountered was at least 3 Harris Sparrows. Brad ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
