Waterfowl and gulls below the Coolidge Bridge, yard species #159 and info on a banded Crested Caracara

Canada Goose with large amount of ice on bill, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 18, 2015

Canada Goose with extensive white on head, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 18, 2015

Canada Goose with extensive white on head, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 18, 2015

Canada Goose with extensive white on head, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 18, 2015

Wood Ducks, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 18, 2015

Northern Pintail, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 18, 2015

Despite a brief respite the winter refuses to give up and the last couple days have featured cold, windy weather with a high today of just above freezing and a low tonight that should deep down to the single numbers...oh yeah! 

I have stopped the last couple morning to check out the patch of open water below the Coolidge Bridge for gulls and waterfowl and have had some decent stuff but nothing extreme.  This morning the highlights included 562 Canada Geese (including one with extensive white on its head and several with large amounts of ice on their bills), ten Wood Ducks, half a dozen Black Ducks, 16 Mallards, a Northern Pintail, three Green winged Teal, seven Hooded Mergansers, a Bald Eagle (which scattered all the gulls), one Iceland Gull among the 150 gulls and two Peregrine Falcons who put on a great show.  As I was scanning the flocks I looked up just in time to see a pair of Peregrine Falcons rocketing south down river heading toward a small group of ducks moving north.  One falcon just barely missed a female Wood Duck (twice) before the duck hit the river and dove.  Some crazy acrobatics by both species...always amazing to watch predator/prey interaction.  There have been falcons hanging around the area of the bridge and I would not be surprised if they attempt to nest on the bridge.

Yesterday morning featured 392 Canada Geese, four Mallards, a single male Bufflehead, seven Hooded Mergansers, an Iceland Gull in among about 270 gulls and a vocal Peregrine Falcon below the bridge.

I also managed to add a new species to my yard list while out playing with Wilson a bit after six o'clock this evening.  Despite the wind I heard a waxwing trilling and knew it was a Bohemian Waxwing.  I then spotted a group of four that landed in the top of one of the oaks for about a minute before launching into the wind and disappearing to the south.  Yard species #159!

Crested Caracara (banded), Viera Wetlands, Viera, FL, Feb 9, 2015

I got an e-mail from the banding lab today regarding a banded Crested Caracara I photographed at the Viera Wetlands in Florida in February.  The male bird was originally banded on Oct 16, 2006 in Florida and was hatched in 2004 or earlier.  That caracara has put on some miles over the years I imagine!