Birdwalk Highlights for 12/6: Winslow Park, Freeport

It's the first Saturday in December so as per two-decade tradition, Winslow Park was the destination for this morning's outing.

It wasn't warm, light snow was falling, but the lack of wind made for a rather pleasant visit, and the birding was good, too!

Winter waterbirds are building in, and our tallies showed it: 153 MALLARDS, ~150 BUFFLEHEAD, 55 AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, 42 CANADA GEESE, 30 RING-BILLED GULLS, 21 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, 8 HERRING GULLS, 8 COMMON LOONS, 3 SURF SCOTERS, and 1 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. There were only about 20 COMMON GOLDENEYES, but no Barrow's yet.

A couple of mixed species foraging flocks and a feeding station produced the usual array of landbirds, with tallies today of: 10 TUFTED TITMICE, 6 BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, 3 NORTHERN CARDINALS, 6 MOURNING DOVES, 3 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, 2 WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, 2 HOUSE FINCHES, a pair of CAROLINA WRENS, and one each of AMERICAN TREE and SONG SPARROWS.

A fly-by GREAT BLUE HERON and a fishing BELTED KINGFISHER were also noted as well, increasingly uncommon with each passing day in December. Much less regular, in fact, fairly rare, however, was the AMERICAN WOODCOCK that flew right past our car as we we departing! We were just pulling away, when a brown softball came zipping out of the woods, turning when it saw us, and passing right by the windshield! It was about as good of a look as one can get of a woodcock...at least if you were in the front seat! That was most unexpected, and a really great way to end an enjoyable outing.