A walk on the morning of March 18th, 2018 around the pond at the John Heinz NWR in Philadelphia. Near freezing weather but the sun was out.
The goal of the walk was essentially two-fold. See what ducks and geese were on the pond. And see what the bald eagles that normally nest right beside the pond were up to.
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Some Canada Goose and Mallard Ducks about. But they are pretty much year-round denizens of the pond here.
At least a dozen Mute Swans were out on the pond. And one was chasing another one around — you can hear them flying. Most of the year there are 4-6 here. And I was told that some Tundra Swans had been there the week before.
Unconfirmed sightings of some smaller ducks near cover that might have been Wood Ducks and/or Green-winged Teal.
There is a point on one trail where I watched a Cooper’s Hawk building a nest about a year ago. The nest is still there in a red maple. Once the maple leafs out the nest is pretty much completely hidden.
I missed the Bald Eagles. The tide in the marsh was out so there was no water to fish in near the trail. My guess is that the eagles were further down the creek where there is deeper water — and the gulls had moved to the far end of the reserve as well where the creek is deeper. Hopefully I will have better luck next time. And I heard no news on whether the eagles had started nesting yet. (Which given the snowfall this week might well have been a good thing.)
And right before I left I saw the glimmer of a largish bird go into a tree near the pond. Since I was walking in that direction I went over near there and watched for movement hoping it was something like a Pileated Woodpecker. I did not see anything, but I did hear an odd call further into the woods. So I went down a side trail to see if I could spot the bird making the call.
From there I spotted a large bird making the call. So I took a picture first and then worked closer. Take another picture, work closer, etc.
And I flushed three deer out of the woods as I was doing this.
It turned out to be two Cooper’s Hawks. One was making all the calls while the other sat in a tree and ignored the first one. I ended up within 30-40’ of the one bird and got the pictures below along with some others.
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Now It's Your Turn
What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.