In Europe a day like today would go down as a 'powdering of snow' when everyone just got on with their bloody lives. Anyway there will be plenty of time to talk about the weather in my life, so I'd rather make this about the birds. Blue Mash first: pretty quiet but we still added 6 new year species. At the pull-over of the north side of Lake Needwood I was greeted to the honking call of 3 Red-breasted Nuthatches that all showed nicely. Down at the edge of the Lake I encountered a Swamp Sparrow which are unusual at this time of the year. From afar I could see a large number of Canadas close to the open water surrounded by ice. I did not take an accurate count but would estimate that around 400 birds were on the lake. The thought of Cackling Geese among them crossed my mind but I could not find any. However when I swung around to the other side of the lake I had a small group of candidate Cacklers. See below in the photographs. Any other opinions are welcome. Also pleasant was finding a female Canvasback, a duck that evaded me last year. So good start to the year.
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| In all of the above are some of the Cackling Geese that were on Lake Needwood today. |
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| Three pics above show the female Canvasback |
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| One of the 3 Red-breasted Nuthatches at Lake Needwood this morning |
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