Traveling between Freeport and Falmouth, hitting each town landing and a few other overlooks, made for a very productive morning today.
The bird of the day goes to the drake GADWALL that we found at the Falmouth Town Landing. It flew in from the north, nearly overhead, and landed nearby for long looks. Rare in winter, this was an unexpected treat. A very close HORNED GREBE here was a highlight as well, plus the interesting behavior of AMERICAN ROBINS (18 here, 34 total on the morning) foraging on the beach.
BALD EAGLES put on a good show today, with one each at the Freeport Town Wharf, Lower Falls Landing, and two at Falmouth Town Landing: a perched adult and an immature that picked a duck off the water (too distant to ID though)!
14 CEDAR WAXWINGS dropped in to visit us at the Lower Falls Landing, and 6 COMMON MERGANSERS were hanging out on the ice under the bridges below the falls. The Cumberland Town Landing offered up a close and confiding GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET.
Our only WHITE-WINGED SCOTER was a single off of the Freeport Town Wharf, while most of the rest of our waterbirds were seen at multiple sites, resulting in tallies of: 116 AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, 110 BUFFLEHEADS, 85 COMMON EIDERS, 76 COMMON GOLDENEYES, 50 HERRING GULLS, 29 RING-BILLED GULLS, 27 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, 24 CANADA GEESE, 20 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, 10 SURF SCOTERS, 9 MALLARDS, 8 COMMON LOONS,