Birding At Carlos Avery

Today was good duck weather for birding. We saw lots of ringed necked ducks (see above - the ring on their bill is more obvious than the ring on their neck) and coots. We saw a few mallards, Canadian geese, one loon, some blue winged teal, and many sandhill cranes. We came upon a spot at Carlos Avery where the sky was FILLED with tree swallows. The scene was positively Alfred Hitchcock in "The Birds." The tree swallows swoop around like bats catching insects. We saw phoebe, red winged blackbirds, robins, bluebirds, mourning doves, and yellow bellied sapsuckers. We saw a bald eagle way off in the distance - just a dark shape against the sky using the scope. Later we came around a corner and there, just 20 feet from the road, sat a bald eagle atop a dead tree. He was just sitting there looking down at us. Rain was pouring down on him and he looked wet yet majestic as we drove by.