Don't Ask (20-21Feb2015)

I made another trip to try for the Rough-legged today and I had a second target bird which will remain un-named.  Unfortunately when I was about 10 miles out it started snowing hard and it was sticking.  I put the truck in 4WD and forged on.  Unfortunately after searching for 30 min I had to pull the plug due to the rapidly accumulating snow.  Even with 4WD I was starting to get stuck in the drifts.

These first few pics are actually from the day before.  I went to Halliburton Park and checked the feeders but nothing out of the ordinary.

Pine Warbler?  Pines can be so confusing.

A more typical male Pine Warbler.

Tons of Chipping Sparrows.

Mourning Dove

After Halliburton I checked Greenfield Lake.

Greater Scaup - rounded head, honker of a bill, clean white flanks.  The green head was a nice bonus although that can be deceptive as even Lesser Scaup can appear to have green heads in the right light.

Back to the Rough-legged adventure.  The Xmas farm was pretty as ever with the fresh snow.

I couldn't find the RL Hawk but there was a very large flock of Siskins.  Probably close to 100.

Pine Siskin - the best photo I could manage with the snow and wind.

On my way back down the mountain, I found a couple sparrows looking at me like they wanted to jump into the warmth of my truck.

White-throated Sparrow

A flock of Cedar Waxwings in the falling snow.  Snow Falling on Cedars?  I think that is a book title.

Some Bluebirds in the flock.

I tried Doughton Mtn Rd and saw an interesting raptor, but I have decided despite the dark arm pits that it was a Red-tailed Hawk.  ARGGHHH that's two trips here with nothing to show.

I decided to check Bandit's Roost at Kerr Scott on my way back to Route 77 to see if the Greater White-fronted Geese were around.  The campground was closed to I drove around to the Dam.

Bingo!

A huge flock of Canada Geese was present and mixed in was some goodies.  Above is two Snow Geese.  I was hoping Ross's Geese but they were too big and had grin patches.

Then I spotted my quarry!  6 Greater White-fronted Geese.  Also in this picture if you zoom in, 2 Ring-necked Duck, 1 Scaup (probably Greater) and some Canada Geese.

Another cool finding, a white foreheaded Canada.

And he was huge compared to the others. My Sibley's mentions this weird phenomena as a known aberration.

Greater White-fronted Geese.

American Crows everywhere.

On way home, I found this Hermit Thrush. Actually I was at a residence where I got a good bird for my year, but I can't post it because the homeowners would prefer not have tons of visitors.  So I will post my blog entry and eBird entry in 3-4 months when the bird is gone.  The suspense is killing you??  Good.

I spotted a huge flock of Blackbirds on my way home.

 99% of them turned out to Common Grackles.

Great times.