Once again I arrived on site just before dawn. Today it was at Col Sam Smith Park. After several hours of walking, I still didn’t have a “new” bird for this spring and was heading back to my car. One last look at the wet area just to the east of the parking lot revealed a species that I seldom see: the Blue-winged Teal.
These little ducks are about 2/3 the size of a Mallard and are very shy. Try as I might, I couldn’t get very close.
Blue-winged Teal are reasonably common on shallow marshy ponds and mudflats. They feed mostly by swimming with bill outstretched picking seed and plant material from the surface.
TODAY’S TEST BIRD
At the conclusion of the post, I will identify it.
Other birds:
MAILBOX
NATURE POETRY
A flower is looking through the ground,
Blinking at the April weather;
Now a child has seen the flower:
Now they go and play together. – Harold Monro (1879–1932)
TODAY’S TEST BIRD
This stocky, short-tailed bird with a blunted bill is a female House Sparrow. It has a plain drab crown unlike the male which has a striking black “bib”.
Miles Hearn
You fooled me Miles with today’s “mystery bird”. I came up with some fancy answers never dreaming that you would display a very ordinary drab little House Sparrow with which to quiz us and make us scratch our heads. Haha.
Why were the male mergansers threatening the poor lone female? Was this part of a mating competition?
Ha! A House Sparrow! Good one, Miles! That is often the ONLY bird I get to see, and I didn’t recognize it!
These Blue-winged Teals are lovely, delightful ducks. I’m so glad you looked back! Thanks for the beautiful pictures of all the other birds and ducks, too! I walk early, but maybe not early enough, and I can’t wear my hearing aids with a mask. So I don’t get enough in the way of birds, walking in neighbourhoods (though I do get to hear Cardinals!) I sure am grateful to you for this. Thanks, Miles!