It Begins.

Well, in many ways this has been a good week. Spotted my first Red-winged Blackbirds and Turkey Vultures - welcome back, little buddies! Also a good crop of the usual spring ducks and associates: Common Goldeneye, Common Merganser, Mallard (of course), Canada Goose (of course), Bufflehead, Redhead, and one Scaup (whether it's Greater or Lesser remains a mystery; whatever expertise I gained with them last year seems to have vanished).


Redheads


(Greater?) Scaup - at first glance, a female, from the white on the face. But the colour pattern is more like a male, which is why it was suggested to me that it's actually a young male just transitioning to his adult plumage.

I'm going to try to keep a close eye on the rivers for the next few weeks, see what else turns up. I'd like to try for some shorebirds this spring, as well, once they start to move, although I'm not sure where to go to find them. Other than Presqu'ile, of course, which was great last fall but is three hours away.

Other goals for this coming migration? I'd like to add some more warblers to my 'collection' - Wilson's and Blackpoll, anyway, those ones regularly get seen in my area for all that I've never been the one to see them. Canada and Cerulean, on the less-common end of things. Maybe this will be my year to get down to Pelee, who knows.

If you can believe it, I've never seen a Mockingbird, either, so that's something that I should probably fix.