Birds, birds, and more birds Part II

Here's post #2. Some of these are pictures I took down at Montrose Harbor. Due to the fact that I don't feel like rearranging the pictures, this post might be a little schizophrenic. These are 2 male Goldeneyes down in the Harbor: Here he's diving (they are, after all, diving ducks)

These are 2 Common Mergansers. They and the Goldeneyes are very shy. Every time I would walk even remotely close to the water (and still a good 50 yards away from them) they would swim away.

Here's a flock of Mergansers out at the end of the Pier. It was very treacherous even just getting this picture. Later you will see why.

Here are the Canadian Geese nibbling on the edge of the ice. It was really funny sounding. It sounded like very quiet chattering.

Here's a view of the skyline from Montrose Point.

If you look closely, you will see that the pier is one big ice slick, which is why I didn't go any further out to look a the Mergansers.

A picture of the wall of the pier, covered in ice.

The cutest picture ever:

Duck tracks in the snow! :)

So all of the above was from a walk around Montrose Point in early January.

The weekend of MLK day, I was down at Indy for the weekend and Mom and I went on a hike at Eagle Creek. I swore to her that we'd only be there for a half an hour. We were there for 3. But it was worth it. We saw 21 different species including one I've always wanted to see - the Pileated Woodpecker (Woody Woodpecker's species). He was absolutely, drop-dead gorgeous. The red on his head is scarlet and he's a very large bird, probably 12 inches or so. I couldn't stop talking about him afterwards.

We also saw one of the pair of wintering Bald Eagles. We had been at the new nature center and as they were shutting it, one of the volunteers gave us some pointers on when and where to find them. We found the tree that they roost in, but they weren't there. But he told us that when all the Coots got off the ice and huddled together in the water in the middle of the lake (the only spot thawed) to look for him. So I saw the Coots do that and the Eagle just swooped down and kept trying to pick one of them off for dinner. Just FYI, he went hungry that night.

We also saw a Northern Mockingbird, Tufted Titmouse, Hairy Woodpecker, possible Broad-Winged Hawk, White-Breasted Nuthatch, American Cardinal (male and female), American Tree Sparrow, American Blue Jay (male and female), Black-Capped Chickadee, Mute Swan, American Coot, American Mallard, Common Goldeneye, Dark-Eyed Junco (new one for me), Red-Tailed Hawk, possible Belted Kingfisher (but only a glance, not enough to count him on my life-list) and apparently some other things that I can't think of.

Then I went tonight to Montrose Harbor and saw 8 Mute Swans (4 adults and 4 juveniles) in the Harbor. I'd seen the Mute Swan at Eagle Creek, but a fellow birder identified him for me, so I was happy to identify these myself. Also, I saw the most vividly red cardinal. That means he's finished molting and has his spring plumage. Yay spring!!! Also, last week Mom saw her neighborhood Cooper's Hawk with me outside her house again (actually down the street). I think I will name her Mabel. You thought I was going to name her Cooper, didn't you? And lastly, I've seen American Kestrels, but usually see them in flight, backlit, or puffed up. I saw one driving the other day that was probably a male because he had the most vivid coloring and he was TINY. So cool. I also saw tons and tons and tons of Horned Larks on Hwy 40 west of Indy. Those things are fearless. They always waited until I almost hit them to fly away. I knew they were horned larks because I parked for a second and they landed next to my car and I saw their little mustaches. :) Ok, that's all. Sorry it was so boring :(