[Ontbirds]Bald Eagles, Owls - Fisherville to LaSalle Park

[Giraud, Jacques]

Saturday was a great day for birding especially for bald eagles and
other raptors.

 

I started at Fisherville where I picked up 4 short-eared owls and 2
rough-legged hawks. At Nanticoke, I found a mature bald eagle sitting in
a tree. At the Turkey Point Lookout, I found a pileated woodpecker as
well as the first flock of mixed blackbirds consisting of cowbirds and
ring-winged blackbirds. Long Point Bay had several hundred tundra swans
sitting on the ice. In open pools, there were also redheads, canvas
backs, great scaup, bufflehead, black duck and American wigeons.

 

Big Creek Marsh at Long Point yielded 2 more bald eagles, 4 rough-legs
(light and dark phase), as well as several northern harriers, a flock of
13 sandhill cranes landing in the marsh and a swamp sparrow. Along the
way, there were numerous kestrels and red-tailed hawks.

 

I then headed to LaSalle Park to see if I could find the eagles
mentioned in a previous post. I saw at least 7 separate birds, 5
juveniles and 2 mature birds over a 2 hour period. 2 juveniles were
dueling in mid-air and I managed to capture the sequence. Pictures can
be found here:

 

http://www.giraud.com/gallery2/v/Birding/2008/20080223_LaSalle_Park_Bird
s/slideshow.html

 

Set the delay to 5 seconds and max size to 640x640 to get the best
effect.

 

Good birding

Jacques Giraud