Preliminaries: Part 3 (a bit of scouting)

Yesterday (28 Dec) I spent part of the day scouting a few locations in Prince Edward to get ready for the beginning of the big year. Unfortunately there weren't a lot of birds around. The best thing I found was a flock of about 40 American Pipits in a field that smelled as though it had recently been subjected to an application of “biosolids” (not one of my favorite euphemisms). Hopefully the pipits will hang around for four more days or so, and the smell will be gone sooner.

Where are you?
Somewhat impressionistic (i.e. blurry) Purple Finch
on my feeder last April.

Otherwise... I checked several feeders looking in vain for a Purple Finch. They are scarce so far this winter; I have not seen one at my home feeders yet. I did see a nice group of feeders at a home near Farmville that I had never noticed before, which is good since one productive feeding station from last year is gone this year.

I was also disappointed that the only ducks at Sandy River Reservoir were the usual suspects, i.e. a couple dozen Ruddy Ducks, but the lake was quite busy for this time of year. There were about 15 vehicles in the main parking lot and the concomitant number of boats buzzing around the lake. No gulls or cormorants... only a couple of Pied-billed Grebes. The local Bald Eagles also failed to put in an appearance, but they will be around. I don't blame them for hiding out yesterday.