West and East of town

What a nice weekend for an extra day off!

As I posted Friday, the weekend started out with three kinds of owls and a Western Grebe.  It got better!  I had the following experiences:

1.  A fun bird behavior
2.  Sharing the joy of another's life bird
3.  Seeing a nice bird in our region
4.  Seeing a life bird myself
5.  Making a tough ID in which I had confidence and no back-up
6.  Seeing a nice harbinger of spring

The fun bird behavior was a first for me - a Northern Shrike flat-out singing, not just the call but a real little song.  Wonderful!  I really like Shrikes.
Numbers two and three were the same event and I'm not going to say much more about 'em pending publication of the Field Trip report from Saturday. :)
The Lifer was, of course, the Barnacle Goose at Iroquois...thanks to Willie and everyone else who helped my get on the bird from a tough vantage point.  Once seen, this bird stuck out like a sore thumb with his little white face.   After watching the goose for ages and stopping for a quick Eagle check (one eagle sitting nice and low on the nest, once doing a move that looked like egg-turning) I headed to the Gypsum Ponds to see what I could see.  This led me to #5, making what for me is a tough ID by picking out six Cackling Geese with confidence amidst the hundreds of Canadas.  Smaller, with stubbier bills.  Check.

I finished up the day at Burger Park, spotting a pair of Hooded Mergansers in the water with the Ring-Necks and a pair of Wigeon.  While on the platform, I heard a sound I hadn't heard in a while...so I tromped across the field and located the lovely singing Eastern Meadowlark perched in a tree and pouring his heart out.  I saw another Meadowlark fly from the same area and land in the field, but this guy just kept singing away.  That's my nice harbinger of spring, item #6.  :)

I hope everyone had such a great weekend!