Hi All,
I took a spin over to Research Boulevard, between 19th St. and 4th St. in the
early afternoon. I wanted to see how the water was doing in the patch of marsh
on the east side of Research Blvd. It was "full" (i. e, about knee deep to an
Avocet), and included:
White-faced Ibis: 7Mallard: 5Blue-Winged Teal: 19Green-Winged Teal:
2Cinnamon Teal: 3Shoveler: 1Coot: 1Black Necked Stilt: 37Avocet:
7Wilson's Phalarope: 2
and:
Yellowthroat: 1, perched high on a reed and singing.
I'm certain some of these are undercounted, as there's a part of the water not
visible, and some of them shifted places.
Because the water is so close to the road, it is tricky to observe the birds.
I stepped out of the car, behind a tree, but the closer ones were clearly
nervous. My approach was to park on the wider parts of the shoulder, driver's
side to the water (which means facing traffic wrong way), and watch from the
car. This gave very good views.
There was very little traffic; when a car approached, I put on my flashers. A
police car coming my way slooooowed down to check me out, but seeing the
binoculars, just went on his way. I wouldn't recommend it too much in late
afternoon when there's more traffic.
Bill