Lacking good weather sense, I ventured out to Sam Smith Park this afternoon to see what I could find. The near gale force winds meant there was little to see and what was there was difficult to see.
The treat of the afternoon was a young Northern Shrike. When I put the bins on him, I expected to see a Mockingbird, because he was deep in a thicket. I guess he was looking for something a little more sheltered than a typical shrike perch. He initially seemed completely unconcerned with my presence, waiting 5 or 6 metres away while I changed lenses.
I don't often get that close to a shrike. Too bad it was such a dark day.
There was a flock of Greater Scaup off the east side, a similar flock off the west mixed with Redheads, a few Lesser Scaup in the harbour and a pair of Hoodies there as well. I also saw 6 or 8 flocks (totaling several thousand birds) of what appeared to be scaup flying west.
How windy was it? I saw a flock of Gadwall flying into the wind, and at one point a gust brought their ground speed to zero. They didn't miss a beat, but they didn't make any headway for a few seconds.
BB
