I headed to the Deer Creek Wildlife Area to poke around today. It was past peak for many migrating birds of October such as sparrows and shorebirds, but still too soon for many wintering species and most waterfowl. It was a beautiful day to be out and the birding was at least enjoyable.

The fields north of the reservoir hosted far fewer sparrows than a couple of weeks ago. Only Song Sparrows really remain there in any numbers and with widespread distribution. I did see Fields, White-crowneds, Swamps, and Savannahs in the area too, but none of them could be considered abundant now. Am. Tree Sparrows which can be so numerous in the winter there have yet to arrive.

The wetlands south of the reservoir hosted much more of all the sparrows already mentioned, especially Swamps. I looked around for potential habitat for LeConte's, but I really didn't see anywhere resembling the habitat at Funk Bottoms. Recent rain brought some water to the nothern wetland section south of Dick Rd., but there were no shorebirds there besides ~15 Killdeer, and no waterfowl at all except for ~30 flyover Canada Geese joined by 6 SNOW GEESE.  The middle wetlands area was again the most productive with ~50 Killdeers, 4 Greater Yellowlegs, and 8 Least Sandpipers, but no ducks of any species. Viewing there is now best in the afternoon by walking on the west side of the water. Sparrows (including several Savannahs) were swarming in the brush nearby, and lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers were still around. American Pipits (~25 maybe) were also using the edges there. I counted 7 N Harriers for the day, which were widely scattered throughout the DCWA area.

As is expected in late fall, the reservoir itself offered priobably the most interest today, with the mudflats and shallow area at the N end being the best. Some of the birds noted there included :

~10 Mallards
~10 Green-winged Teal
~30 Ring-necked Ducks
~35 Lesser Scaups
3 Ruddy Ducks
(0 Canada Geese!)
1 Pied-billed Grebe
5 D-c Cormorants
~20 Great Blue Herons (low for the date there)
2 Bald Eagles
~50 Am. Coots
4 Sandhill Cranes
1 Black-bellied Plover
250+ Killdeers
1 Greater Yellowlegs
11 Least Sandpipers
1 Pectoral Sandpiper
13 Dunlins
1 Wilson's Snipe
~300 Ring-billed Gulls
several Herring Gulls
~75 Bonaparte's Gulls

Bob Royse


Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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