tags: birds, Canvasback, Aythya valisineria, ornithology, Image of the Day
Okay, I have to brag a little bit. I have been invited to Manhattan, Kansas, to go birding with Dave Rintoul and his ornithology students for one week at the end of March. I am almost beside myself with excitement right now as I look through Dave's many bird images -- which remind me of my own years of springtime birding on the west coast of this country. How I miss those days, and those birds!
This is the sixth image in this series of Dave's beautiful pictures. The elegant Canvasback are one of my most favorite ducks (I know; it's difficult to choose a favorite duck species, or bird, for that matter).
Male Canvasback, Aythya valisineria.
Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Utah,
27 April 2005.
Image: Dave Rintoul, 2005. [larger size].
Good Luck. At our feeder this winter we had TWO birds. Both a male and a female Cardinal. Nothing else. Last summer we had tons of sparrows but NO finches. I personally think Kansas is bereft of the many many birds we saw at our feeders in Indiana.
Kansas is not exactly bereft of birds, but I do think, as a long-time birdwatcher here, that many birds are definitely less abundant than they were in previous years. Nevertheless, in the last couple of days at my feeders I saw red-breasted & white-breasted nuthatches, goldfinches, house finches, juncos, blue jays, tufted titmouses, cardinals, red-bellied, downy and hairy woodpeckers, flickers (yellow-shafted), Carolina wren, white-throated sparrow, and brown creeper. As well as a roving flock of about 50 American crows...
And the checklists for my field ornithology class, from 2001 to the present, can be viewed here. I think that GrrlScientist will probably see at least some birds not found in Central Park when she comes to visit!