Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Saw-whet owl at Bennington Lake

We saw a northern saw-whet owl at Bennington Lake this morning.  It was in the pine trees on the east side where we have seen them before.  The other notable sighting was a winter wren.  It's been several years since we've seen one at the lake.  Lots of the usual winter birds - juncos, song sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, ruby-crowned kinglets, chickadees, flickers and downy woodpeckers.  Raptors included 1 red-tailed hawk, 2 northern harriers and 1 kestrel. Waterfowl was sparse – a common goldeneye, 3 western grebes, 3 northern shovelers, 2 northern pintails and 3 green-winged teal.  We only saw one Townsend's solitaire todayWe saw a total of 28 species this morning on our sunny, but somewhat chilly walk.  The leaves are mostly off the trees, but it's still a beautiful place to be.  Ginger

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