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Its sunny, cold, and somewhat windy when I arrived at the landing.  I was greeted by three Pied-billed Grebes at the first pond. Surprisingly, they swam toward me. This soon changed of course but I was able to get a few pictures before they got too far away.  At the backwater, I saw first two then three more small Canada Geese. I realized just how small when ducks swam nearby and then I realized I had five Cackling Geese.  However, after studying the pictures I realized I was wrong. As small as they were, the bills were too large.  After some study, I learned that the smallest Canada Goose can be smaller than the largest Cackling Goose.  Bummer.

I then proceeded to walk around the area. It was cold and windy but I saw a few birds, 26 species in all.

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I had another Friday off so I went to TRP after dropping Sam off at school.  It was sunny and not too bad temperature wise.  I spent 90 minutes and walked about ¾ mile along the backwater and open field.  My highlight was this Hermit Thrush.

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• Pied-billed Grebe
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Coopers Hawk
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Bonaparte’s Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Fish Crow
• Carolina Wren
• Eastern Bluebird
• Hermit Thrush
• American Robin
• Northern Mockingbird
• European Starling
• Field Sparrow
• Savannah Sparrow
• Lincoln’s Sparrow
• Swamp Sparrow
• Northern Cardinal
• Red-winged Blackbird

I had Friday off so after dropping Samantha off at school, I took off for Treadway’s in Prairie County.  I’m used to going there in the summer for shore birds but inly recently learned that its good in winter for waterfowl.  My target today was a Surf Scoter reported by Kenny Nichols.  This was actually my second attempt, I had gone the Saturday before but had failed to see him.

It was cold and sunny, about 27 F.  That wasn’t so bad as I was dressed for it but the difference between the super cold air and not as cold water made for a shimmering inversion layer that reduced the clarity of my images.

I did see the Surf Scoter and got pictures though he never let me get too close plus the following list of birds.  An asterisk indicates first of year.

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• Surf Scoter *
• Ross’s Goose *
• Snow Goose
• Mallard
• Northern Shoveler
• Canvasback
• Lesser Scaup
• Bufflehead
• Common Goldeneye
• Ruddy Duck
• Horned Grebe
• Great Blue Heron
• Turkey Vulture
• Northern Harrier
• Red-tailed Hawk
• American Kestrel
• American Coot
• Killdeer
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Ring-billed Gull
• Mourning Dove
• Belted Kingfisher
• American Crow
• American Pipit
• Northern Cardinal
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Eastern Meadowlark