December 24, 2007
Il fait froid
Since the Surprise Island voyage, I've had precious little time to get out birding. One morning I decided to return to Vigneux-sur-Seine to see if I could get better photos of the returning drake Ferruginous Duck (Fuligule nyroca). I didn't!
For the last two weeks the weather in Orsay has been sunny but very cold (down to -6 at night, and only just getting above freezing during the day). The resident Tawny Owls (Chouette hulotte) are being very vocal, and Siskins (Tarin des aulnes) are everywhere. 3 Ring-necked Parakeets (Perruche a collier) were a surprise addition to my campus list - were they displaced by the cold, or new colonists? Most evenings this Black Woodpecker (Pic noir) flies over the campus to its roost site in the Bois des Rames (OK, the photos aren't great, but surely more convincing than those of its Ivory-billed cousin?).
