Bird Bonanza

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke early.  Dawn had not broken, and the river was quiet.  As the sun rose, the birds descended on our stretch of the river.

It was a great day to watch the birds.  We had a frequent visitors - the Canadian geese, mallards and seagulls.  We also had a few unexpected visitors.

Near the shore was a medium sized bird that was dark and setting low in the water.  It was an American coot.  Though not a rare bird, I've never seen one on this part of the river.  They migrate through here.  I would have expected it to be long gone from these parts, but the warm weather must be delaying its travels.

I noted a few rings in the water where something had submerged.  I first thought it may be a merganser.  Moments later it surfaced.  I originally thought it was a bufflehead, but on closer inspection I realized it was a male hooded merganser.

I then noticed that several female hooded mergansers were about.  I frequently see common mergansers during the summer, but I have seen a lot of hooded merganser females lately.

There were dozens of geese about.  They seemed oblivious to the coot and mergansers.

As I watched the birds dive, dabble and paddle about, a solitary blue heron flew upstream just a few meters from the surface of the river.  This was quite unexpected.

About 30 minutes later, the geese decided to go ashore and browse the grass in our yard.  There were dozens milling around.  The wife and I are always excited to see the birds in the yard.

I am so very lucky to have a place to watch the waterfowl right from my living room and porch.