Saturday CBC-Arkona Area

Today I went up to Arkona to help out with the Kettle Point CBC.  My area was Rock Glen CA and the village of Arkona, as I usually do.  The roads were rather dicey heading up this morning, but at least it had stopped snowing.
There is much more snow up there due to the lake effect, so walking was difficult.  Especially at Rock Glen!

To get into the river valley, there are two sets of long stair cases. Pick one!  With over 30 cm of snow on the ground it was not easy.

With the recent cold weather, things were rather frozen.  Much more than usual!  Quite a difference from last year.

Rock Glen Falls17 December 2016

2015

The Ausable River was mostly frozen which is not normal compared to the last many counts.  Often there are Common Mergansers on the river, but there is not enough open water!

Once down in the river valley, I heard a Belted Kingfisher--a decent bird for this area at this time. However, I have had one several times in the past here.

I only had one Bald Eagle, and I never saw a Golden Eagle this year.

Another decent bird was a Swamp Sparrow along the river.  Any sparrow on this count (short of American Tree Sparrow) is good!

2016

2015

I also saw a White-throated Sparrow in the yard near the gate where there is a feeder.  A number of birds were there including a Red-breasted Nuthatch.  Lots of Black-capped Chickadees were around.

With the early onslaught of winter, many birds bailed, so numbers were lower compared to some years.

Driving around, I did not see much, but a flock of just under 100 Snow Buntings was nice to see. Some dark morph Rough-legged Hawks were around too.

Tomorrow is Rondeau...........