16 December 2011

Lake Ontario Oldsquaws

I was reading e-mail last night, when a post on the CNY birding list server mentioned someone trying to find an eider that had been seen previously, but had no luck scouring flocks of hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks for it. (These were known as Oldsquaws until about 10 years ago when it was decided "long-tailed Duck" was a less derogatory name. Can't even look at birds without political correctness showing up.)

I stopped, backed up, and realized what that meant. There were hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks within an hour's drive. I have never seen a Long-tailed Duck! I had a free day today. off I went!

It wasn't overly cold, but it was windy. Here's a picture of the surf coming in on Lake Ontario.



So I tried to find places with protected harbors to search, because I knew I wasn't going to have much look trying to see anything on those breakers. I had my first luck at Henderson Harbor, where I found one, but I really scored at the harbor in Oswego.






I also found, and managed to catch an in-flight shot of a Lesser Black-backed Gull.



To give an idea of the wind a waves, here's a shot of the waves breaking over the breakwater at the Oswego Harbor.



Overall, a good day. I saw a lifer and managed to get several good pictures of them. Thankfully, all of my stops I could either bird from the car or they were a short walk. That wind just cut right through you!

No comments: