Nice sightings and very, very nice photos Iain in fact some of the best I have seen.
Margaret Liubavicius and I spent an hour or so on The Flats looking for the Western Grebe. No Western but we did find 12 Red-throated Loons, 1 Common Loon, 4 Horned Grebes and 13 Red-necked Grebes. All probably undercounted as we could see many possibilities further out but too far for binoculars to positively identify as I have a strain problem carrying my telescope. As you probably witnessed, some of the above birds came in very close for great views. The Flats are the area between The Lighthouse and Pipit Point by the way.
We then proceeded to the area of the lake off Pipit Point and along the outer arm to the base of The Spit and saw a total of zero waterfowl as the lake was so silted up for at least 1000 yards offshore. It was a milky whitish brown color.
Other birds we found on The Spit were few and far between, 2 Brown-headed Cowbirds, the over wintering Northern Flicker, 1 Downy Woodpecker and a few A. Tree Sparrows and tons of Ring-billed Gulls that are arriving daily to prepare for their breeding season. Pipit Point and Peninsulas A and B are now covered with these Gulls and will soon be closed to the public.
THis week should show a marked increase in both Passerines and Waterfowl and I think I will bite the bullet and with some help take my scope out next weekend.
