The first day of classes is always a rough day for me at work. More than 100 phone calls and tons of questions about logging on in the computer lab and printing... I put 6 reams of paper in the printers in the first 4 hours.
I got off work at 1 and it wasn't raining so I decided to stop by Bethany pond for a walk and to see if there were any new birds. I only saw the regulars so I headed towards home and stopped at Commonwealth park on my way there.
I got off work at 1 and it wasn't raining so I decided to stop by Bethany pond for a walk and to see if there were any new birds. I only saw the regulars so I headed towards home and stopped at Commonwealth park on my way there.
Double Crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritusThese birds are reasonably common and easy to spot sitting up in telephone poles or old trees. Sometimes you see them splashing around in the water.
Commonwealth LakeNot much sun here either, but at least it wasn't raining.
I saw the usual widgeons, male and female mallards, and canadian geese. Lots of birds just walking around in the soggy grass pecking and finding stuff to eat in the mud.
There was a large flock of gulls too. According to whatbird.com there are several terms for a group of gulls, including flotilla, gullery, screech, and squabble.
Click here to see the whole bird.
Although the Western Gulls are quite common, I was a little surprised to large flocks of them at Commonwealth. On previous visits, I had seen only Ring-billed Gulls.
When you look closely, the Western gull has a red spot on the lower part of his bill, a yellow eyelid and dark eyes.
The Ring-billed gull has a black band on his bill, red eyelids, and yellow eyes.
This is another common bird I've pictured in previous posts.
Here you can clearly see his red eyes, dark red frontal shield on his forehead and the black band on his beak.
Apparently the collectives for coots are codgery, commotion, fleet, shoal, and swarm.
If you liked those, check the Repository of Collective Nouns for more.
There was a large flock of gulls too. According to whatbird.com there are several terms for a group of gulls, including flotilla, gullery, screech, and squabble.
Click here to see the whole bird.
Although the Western Gulls are quite common, I was a little surprised to large flocks of them at Commonwealth. On previous visits, I had seen only Ring-billed Gulls.
When you look closely, the Western gull has a red spot on the lower part of his bill, a yellow eyelid and dark eyes.
The Ring-billed gull has a black band on his bill, red eyelids, and yellow eyes.
This is another common bird I've pictured in previous posts.
Here you can clearly see his red eyes, dark red frontal shield on his forehead and the black band on his beak.
Apparently the collectives for coots are codgery, commotion, fleet, shoal, and swarm.
If you liked those, check the Repository of Collective Nouns for more.
Pied-Billed Grebe - Podilymbus podicepsThese are also common birds, but trying to take a picture of one is like trying to take a picture of the loch ness monster.
They're small, dark and fast and they hide in the vegetation or dive down into the water almost as soon as you've spotted them.
I've never seen more than two or thee grebes at a time, but the collective for these birds is "a water dance of grebes". That sounds like it would be very cool to see.
They're small, dark and fast and they hide in the vegetation or dive down into the water almost as soon as you've spotted them.
I've never seen more than two or thee grebes at a time, but the collective for these birds is "a water dance of grebes". That sounds like it would be very cool to see.
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