Why do we do this?

Today was the first Saturday Morning Bird Walk at Hills Creek State Park. My local chapter of the Audubon Society provides the walk leaders (usually that's Gary and me). After two days of pretty heavy rain followed by strong (40 mph) winds over night, we hoped that there would be a break this morning. Well, it wasn't raining, but it was windier than ever. And it was out of the north so it was cold. Just 38 degrees, overcast and dreary. I think both Gary and I were hoping no one else showed up so we could go home and get some hot coffee. Even the park ranger who usually accompanies us was a no show. Something about getting married or some such nonsense. However, two women form the area did show and we felt compelled to do our part as leaders, especially since one was a new birder.

As might be expected when the wind is howling, birding was difficult. All the little guys kept their heads down or deep in the pines where they were less likely to get blown away. All the water fowl hugged the shoreline (usually the far shoreline, of course) so as to avoid the white caps out in the middle of the lake. Only a few Canada Geese, Mallards, Wood Duck, Crows and two immature Bald Eagles were seen in the air. The Crows and Eagles seemed to be enjoying themselves as they surfed the air currents, tilting their wings from side to side and even performing some aerial acrobatics.

All I know is I was glad I wore my wool socks, flannel-lined jeans and had some hand warmers in my pockets. Still, my fingers got cold every time I had to lift the binoculars and/or make an entry into my notebook and my eyes were constantly tearing up from the wind.

In 2+ hours we managed to identify only 16 species. Here's the list:

Location: Hills Creek State Park
Observation date: 4/4/09
Notes: Very,very windy morning that started at just 38 degrees. Overcast and sunless. There were two immature Bald Eagles. At least one carried food (a frog or small fish?) as it glided around the coastline of the lake.
Number of species: 16

Canada Goose X
Wood Duck X
Mallard X
Ring-necked Duck X
Common Merganser (North American) X
Horned Grebe X
Bald Eagle X
Mourning Dove X
Eastern Phoebe X
American Crow X
Tree Swallow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
American Robin X
Song Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) X
Northern Cardinal X

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