It would seem the longer you bird watch the more you begin to pick up on the counting off-shoots and month listing has been a fun way to motivate myself for more regular outings. It also forces you to think deeper about where to find niche birds that are overwintering. My birding in December has always been very thin with the holidays and little interesting me so late in the year.
I continued on my hike listening for Crossbill calls, but mostly just picking up on a few woodpecker species and a lingering American Robin. I eventually wrapped things up and headed back to town for a dating anniversary breakfast at the Caribou Coffee that my wife and I had our first date in 17 years ago.
After this late breakfast I returned to the road thinking I might work for gulls again with the cold likely to continue to concentrate birds near the water. Afton Marina was my first stop and it continued to show 100+ Trumpeter Swan as well as Greater Scaup, Hooded Merganser, and the expected Common Goldeneye and Common Merganser. No gulls were present, though I figured south to Point Douglas was likely to have something.
I stopped first at Carpenter Nature center wondering what might show itself near the feeders as I added some easy birds. I briefly thought I spotted a Swamp Sparrow, but the shadows of a brushy patch later showed it was an American Tree Sparrow.
I quickly headed further south to Point Douglas, with my eye on the clock and thinking I needed to get another look at Grey Cloud Island Gravel Pit. I rolled into Point Douglas though and saw the ice had extended a lot since the day before bringing birds much closer to shore for viewing. I had pulled into a parking spot and spied a large white bird circling over the water. What caught my eye was the size. At first I thought it would be very strange location for a Snowy Owl to be flying, that is how large the gull appeared to be. I jumped out of the car without even turning the ignition off, bins in hand. I locked onto a large gull with snow white wing tips wheeling about over the open water. I knew immediately based on size and color that I had finally found a Glaucous Gull on my own and for the first time in Washington County. I watched the bird gain elevation and then arc over the bridge and eventually the rail bridge heading south. At the time it didn't even occur to me that I might jump over to Prescott and maybe see the bird working the Dakota County waters. I was able to get a phone message into Pete Nichols and other alerts went out to a county short list.
I though seemed to be driven to continue to other locations, still thinking about the Pectoral Sandpiper that had been found by Alex Sundvall and Liz Harper the day prior at the Gravel Pit. I liked the idea of snagging this bird in December knowing my personal latest ever was unlikely to have been much past mid-September. (September 23) First though I didn't want to waste the trip and stopped by Lock and Dam 3 to look at the sandbar area that is on the Washington County side of the Mississippi River. An ice shelf in front of the marina was present and with it a small host of gulls.
It's been fun to see the massive shift in gulls as just a few weeks back we had 1000's of Ring-billed Gulls with a handful of Herring Gulls. (...and a Black-legged Kitiwake), but now that cold was setting in harder the Ring-billed have all, but exited the county south and the Herring Gulls dominate in numbers. The ice shelf had a nice bonus though, an outstanding heavily marked Iceland Gull (Thayer's) type. This gull was very smudged on the head and neck with a nice dark eye. In the light it also showed a shade darker mantle than an adjacent Herring Gull, not to mention the obvious size difference. What a great bird to see and study and have all the key characteristics. This bird would apparently soon lift off as Bob Dunlap would make an attempt not much later to find it for a county tic. (I later found out though that Pete, Bob, and others had gotten to Point Douglas and instead of a Glaucous coming back around would find another Iceland (Thayer's) present so he got the tic anyway.
I was already well entrenched at Grey Cloud Gravel pit for my 2 hour scoping session. The light was perfect for once at this very tricky location and I was able to pull out birds from crazy distance with my Swarovski scope. It was the closer range though that really sung today as I was able to pull in several December tics on a wicked good waterfowl day.
Waterfowl and others I pulled out on my 24 species list for this location...
Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Redhead, Gadwall, American Wigeon, American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Ruddy Duck, American Black Duck (another county tic for Bob Dunlap as he came out and I was able to scope him a look), Ring-necked Duck, Northern Flicker, and yes I even got the Pectoral Sandpiper with some pictures. Pete came out after a bit and we were able to get him on all the key birds as well.
The biggest bummer of the day was Pete losing his bins sometime between Point Douglas and Prescott Marina. Hoping they find their way back to him somehow...
As noted earlier I stayed for 2 hours picking out birds at the gravel pit and still feel like that was rushed. The light offered so much that it was impossible to be completely thorough with the thousands present in the furthest reaches of the massive pool.
I say it was an accidental day as I had no real plans at the start and really just wanted a good morning hike and then breakfast with my wife. It turned into my county year bird 241 (Glaucous Gull) and county life bird 251; then when I got home and was about to head out for a Target run I did the numbers on day count and found I had blown past the county record. On the road to Target I picked up Wild Turkey and eventually a few European Starling. This put me at 47, adding 11 to the record Pete had set the day before. This really was all Gravel Pit to be honest. I just wanted to see the Pectoral Sandpiper in December and the ducks wouldn't stop revealing themselves. All total I had 12 species at the Gravel Pit that I did not have anywhere else on the day. Prior to that I hadn't even thought about my day total, I was just looking to get some good birds and maybe find myself another gull for the big year effort.
You just never know what you are going to find when you dig into the open water spaces as the last of them begin to freeze over. The concentration of ducks and gulls on these spaces really can be amazing.
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