Stoney Creek (Wintergreen) 4/5/2011


Very strong winds and 1/2-inch of rain overnight and this morning brought down a few trees and a lot of tree limbs, but the sun came out this afternoon, and the wind remained brisk, but not too bad. I first headed over to Lake Monocan, and the Double-crested Cormorant I saw there yesterday was still at the lake, basking in the sunlight on the edge of the dock.


Double-crested Cormorant

I then hiked to Sawmill Creek ponds 6, 5, and 4. On the way to pond 6, some large limbs of a pine tree blocked the private driveway to the path to the pond, and even though my hand ended up covered with pine tar, I moved the tree limbs off of the driveway so my neighbors could get in/out of their house. I was amply rewarded when I got to the pond. First I saw a Blue-winged Teal swimming with a Pied-billed Grebe.


Blue-winged Teal and Pied-billed Grebe


Blue-winged Teal


Blue-winged Teal


Blue-winged Teal

As I walked over to get a better view of the Blue-winged Teal, I saw a pair of Greater [4/7/11 update: almost uniform concurrence as to Greater as opposed to Lesser] Yellowlegs at the edge of the pond. I may have seen Lesser Yellowlegs here in the Wintergreen area in 2008, but it was not a positive ID - this time there was no question about their being Yellowlegs, and Greater Yellowlegs is my Wintergreen area species # 166, and # 222 for all locally reported species. As they walked, one of them kept bobbing its head up and down.


Greater Yellowlegs


Greater Yellowlegs


Greater Yellowlegs


Greater Yellowlegs


Greater Yellowlegs


Greater Yellowlegs


Greater Yellowlegs


Greater Yellowlegs



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