I checked out the Deer Creek Wildlife Area and reservoir this afternoon. I also went there last Friday (March 25).

Starting with the reservoir :
By far the most abundant species to be seen when scanning the reservoir is Tree Swallows. Hundreds are present and that was the case on Friday as well. No other swallow species were detected with them yet. The most numerous duck present on the reservoir is Ruddy Duck. I counted ~200 on Friday, but only about 75 remain today.  Other ducks on the reservoir incude less than 50 each of Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup with ~20 Red-breasted Mergansers today. Present in small numbers were Bufflehead and Green-winged Teal. On Friday there were some Common Mergansers too. On Friday there were ~20 Common Loons, but only one was present today. Several each of Pied-billed and Horned Grebes were present both days. On Friday I saw only 5 gulls total in the entire reservoir (2 Bonaparte's, 2 Ring-billed, 1 Herring), but today there were ~200 Bonapate's present along with still only 2 Ring-billeds. In addition to widely scattered Killdeeers along the edges of the reservoir today was a single Greater Yellowlegs. Yeah, there were coots and a few D-c Cormorants too. 4 imm. Bald Eagles were sitting on the beach on Friday, but I saw none today. Also seen on Friday but not today was as Eastern Phoebe at the Miller Park area.

A flooded field on Crownover Mill road hosted 20+ Wilson's Snipes today.

The wetlands were far more active with waterfowl than the reservoir both days. All the expected puddle ducks for the date are present, many in large numbers. Also, what is remaining of the flooded fields along Mouser Road at the E end of Dick Road still hosts huge numbers of puddle ducks. Blue-winged Teals were the most numerous duck (100+) in the northern wetland along Dick Road on Friday, but fewer were there today, but they are still widely scattered in the area. In the middle wetland tract today there was a RED-NECKED GREBE. There is scant shorebird habitat in the southern tract, but I flushed several Killdeers, and Wilson's Snipe in addition to one each of Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpiper today. Small numbers of Savannah and Swamp Sparrows were in the area too. Possibly the highlight for me today was a Brown Thrasher singing atop a tree this afternoon belting out its large repertoire. This lasted for about 5 minutes then stopped. The beautiful song of the Red Fox Sparrow was heard in several places in the DCWA both on Friday and today. 

Last but not least to me is the fascinating shift in the Spizella flocks that have taken place throughout the entire DCWA over the past couple of weeks. Early this month I could have told you the general location of about a dozen different American Tree Sparrow flocks. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that almost all those flocks had one or two Field Sparrows with them. I was out of town for a while a could visit the DCWA mid month, but on Friday these same flocks were almost all Field Sparrows with a few Am Tree Sparrows mixed in here and there. Today there were flocks of Field Sparrows in al the expected places, but I only saw one Am. Tree Sparrow all day with them. Field Sparrows were very numerous in the DCWA today, but they were all flocking birds. None were singing anywhere. The same shift in the Spizella flock species happens in reverse in November when all the Field Sparrows seem to be replaced by Am Tree Sparrows, but the size and locations of the flocks seems to be the same.


Bob Royse


Robert Royse
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www.roysephotos.com

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