Peterborough Area -- Jan 10 2012

There had been a Common Loon and White-winged Scoter seen at Gannon's Narrows on Pigeon Lake a couple of times during the last week so I started my day off out there. The Common Loon was present on the East side of the Narrows, pretty close to the South shore. There were 63 Common Goldeneye on the West side, very distant. After having a good look through the Common Goldeneye at the limit of my scope, I had one last look at the East side before leaving. Sure enough, the White-winged Scoter was now out in the center of the channel, impossible to miss. A group of three Mallards that kept flying around rounded out the trip.
Next, I went to check out the gulls on Little Lake in Peterborough. While driving through downtown, I noticed a Cooper's Hawk chasing a group of pigeons overhead. I managed to follow it for a couple of blocks and eventually locate it in a Manitoba Maple in someone's front yard on Aylmer Street. I only had a 55mm with me. Of all times not to have a 300mm.


Cooper's Hawk -- still hungry for delicious pigeon

 The flock of gulls on Little Lake moves from day to day, especially with the ice melting due to the warm weather. After finding the best vantage point, I scoped through them, finding three Glaucous Gulls, four Iceland Gulls, seven Great Black-backed Gulls and a single adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. There were about 300 Herring Gulls and a handful of Ring-billeds mixed in as well. The lighting and my position weren't the best, so I'm sure the Iceland/Glaucous count could be higher. There were also five Common Mergansers and a bunch more Common Goldeneye on Little Lake.