Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - Greater Scaup and More Spring Migrants

Yesterday was a nice day weather wise exept for the rather windy conditions. Despite the winds it was a pretty nice day to be out, enjoying nature. I went to a few of the local "waterfowl hotspots" and found a few birds out and about. The best bird of the day was most definately the Greater Scaup. I saw three of them in a pond near a cattle farm. They were larger than the other Lesser Scaup there and  sported nice rounded glossy-green heads. When by the Lesser Scaup they looked noticeably larger. The bills were larger and bluer than the Lesser Scaup's and the sides were clean white unlike the dirtier Lesser. An overall neater looking bird which put the Lesser Scaup to shame. This bird was another life bird for me putting me up to 252 on my life list. Also seen were a couple pretty Hooded Mergansers as well as a few Redheads and Pied-billed Grebes. Later in the day I saw close to 100 Turkey Vulture fly over which were the first spring migrants in the area.