Birds A Plenty

Mergansers and Goldeneyes

On December 20th, I received an email from our Wacouta neighbors Dan and Diane Mueller reporting a remarkable sight in the open water at the Head of Lake Pepin.  It appeared to them that hundreds if not thousands of diving ducks were congregating between Friedrich Point and Greens Point.

Male Common Merganser

These numbers were confirmed the next day as members of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count working at the head of the lake estimated over 6000 common mergansers were visible.  Mergansers eat primarily fish and the most common species present in the river are gizzard shad.  As long as open water persists, these ducks will take advantage of the situation.

Male Common Goldeneye

Another diving duck observed by the Muellers and the CBC observers were common goldeneyes.  The CBC count at the head of the lake for goldeneyes was over 1700.  Like mergansers and wood ducks, goldeneyes nest in tree cavities near lakes, rivers and wetlands.  Eventually these ducks will winter in shallow coastal bays, estuaries and harbors along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Hen Mallard with Shad

Diving ducks are not alone at taking advantage of large numbers of forage fish like gizzard shad.  Colvill park mallards were also feasting on the abundant food source.

Mature Bald Eagle

The Muellers also reported observing several bald eagles sitting at the edge of the ice on December 20th.  The reason for their presence was gizzard shad and an occasional weak or injured waterfowl.

Pileated and Downy Woodpeckers

Kathy and I participated in the Christmas Bird Count by doing a feeder watch.  In this case, over a 1.5 hour time period we would count birds at our feeders or from our windows.  The most interesting observation we made was of two pileated and one downy woodpecker at our suet feeder at the same time.  The male pileated has the red mustache.

Highbush Cranberries with Hoarfrost

In the early morning hours of December 21st, there was a magical scene on top of the bluffs with hoarfrost covering the landscape..  Hoarfrost is formed by direct condensation of water vapor to ice on objects below freezing temperatures.

Lake Pepin Ice

As I have mentioned in recent posts, winter water levels on the river are way above normal and continually fluctuate.  This has contributed to unsafe ice conditions on Lake Pepin as this photo taken from Frontenac State Park demonstrates.

Otter Slide

In recent years, I have observed more river otters and signs of their activity in Wacouta.  On New Year's Day, I came across a fresh otter slide in the snow after it had crossed Wacouta Road near Highway 61.  I would guess it had been travelling from the open water on Bullard's Creek to the open water on the east end of Wacouta Pond.  Keep your eyes open in this area for future activity.