Bennington Lake today

Things have settled down on our Tuesday morning walks now that the summer birds are gone.  Because of the low water, there was only one bird on the water today - a mallard.  Three great blue herons and a great egret were joined by three killdeer, a ring-billed gull and a greater yellowlegs on the shoreline. However, a sharp-shinned hawk scared the shorebirds off. Other raptors included a red-tailed hawk, a male northern harrier and a kestrel.  Robins and juncos were plentiful all around the lake. We saw a several Townsend's solitaires, black-capped chickadees, song sparrows, white-crowned sparrows, Bewick's wrens and two ruby-crowned kinglets.    We didn't see any great horned owls today.  There were numerous northern flickers including one yellow-shafted bird, one northern shrike and seven downy woodpeckers.  All in all it was a typical winter day at the lake.  There was no wind, and no rain so it was a very pleasant walk.     Ginger