And so it happened today. I was at Mogadore Reservoir scoping a raft of Ring-necked Ducks when I went back to the car to get my camera. I then proceeded to set up for taking a picture, and the words flashed: “no card in reader.” I had left my sd card at home… no pictures. This is the first time that I have done this ever, and I was more than a little frustrated. So, no pics of pretty ducks in a row.
I did, however, get the opportunity to try out my new spotting scope set-up, and it’s great. The weight now is perfect since I swapped out the tripods. And the tripod/head combo is sturdy in the field, providing a perfectly shake-free viewing through the scope. The scope viewing area is bright at all levels of magnification, and focusing was easy to get a nice, sharp image. It was exciting to view the Ring-necks, American Wigeons and a lone Redhead through the lens of the scope, up close and personal. Zooming in is nice and smooth, and maintains overall sharpness as the subject takes up more of the field-of-view.
On another note, the birds, they are on the move. Northern Pintails have been around and are almost gone from local haunts, as have other ducks such as Scaup, Bufflehead, Redhead and Canvasback. Ring-necked Ducks are still foraging locally, as evidenced today, and by other field trip reports, and Green-winged Teal have begun to show up. There aer also some Northern Shovelers still foraging about. Red-winged Blackbirds have shown up in fair numbers, Grackles are being seen, as well as Towees and Meadowlark, and there are reports of Killdeer being seen, and also Yellow-rumped Warblers. So there is a continuing shift of birds occurring, as we head toward the main push of ducks, and the beginnings of shorebirds. The Bird Migration Forecasts start up on March 1st, so that data will be interesting to follow.
KeriBirder 