Wed. 1/23: Short-ears and hardy lingerers at Jake's Landing

I made another visit to Jake's Landing this evening, thankfully with the temperature 15 degrees warmer than Sunday night, and with almost no wind. Remember that nights with little or no wind are best for seeing Short-ears...owls were up and flying when I arrived this evening, no doubt taking advantage of the perfect flying conditions. Here's a run-down of the highlights:

• 5 Short-eared Owls, visible in all directions from the parking lot at one time or another.
• 2 Bald Eagles, both adults- apparently one each from the Beaver Swamp and East Creek nesting pairs, as the two headed in those respective directions.
• 10+ Marsh Wrens and 2 Seaside Sparrows, a rather nice count for late-January, but not totally unexpected considering the lack of any extended cold snaps so far.
• 8+ calling Clapper Rails, another good tally at the end of January for a species that is characteristic of summer.
• 2 duetting Great Horned Owls- this is our earliest breeding species, and the female should be on eggs pretty soon.

As usual, a complete list is included-

Location: Jake's Landing Observation date: 1/23/08 Number of species: 25
Snow Goose 7000

Canada Goose 125

American Black Duck 60

Mallard 2

Hooded Merganser 3

Pied-billed Grebe 2

Bald Eagle 2

Northern Harrier 12

Red-tailed Hawk 1

Clapper Rail 6

Dunlin 40

Wilson's Snipe 1

Ring-billed Gull 1

Herring Gull 6

Great Black-backed Gull 1

Mourning Dove 1

Great Horned Owl 2

Short-eared Owl 5

Marsh Wren 10

American Robin 45

Seaside Sparrow 2

Song Sparrow 1

Swamp Sparrow 1

Red-winged Blackbird 25

Eastern Meadowlark 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)