The long spate of cold weather froze all our ponds and lakes. Even the rivers were beginning to freeze until Monday’s warmth reversed the trend.
Don’t expect to see a lot of birds at Lake Arthur right now. Waterfowl who rely on open water for food or to get airborne have left for open water. Some are at our rivers, most have left town completely.
This female bufflehead was on the other side of the U.S. — at Bosque del Apache, New Mexico — when Steve Valasek took her picture.
No, she didn’t leave Pittsburgh for New Mexico, but Steve did.
(photo by Steve Valasek)
Had some diving ducks late yesterday morning on the Allegheny on the Lower Burrell side across from Brackenridge. First, from my window, I had 6 drakes, white below, with dark heads, but the number kept changing. I did go out in the rain and fog for a closer look, but still couldn’t get a solid ID with 12x. Definitely not Bufflehead, too big and wrong shape. Could have been mergs, but although it sounds a little far-fetched, they might have been Canvasbacks. They did move around some and do some diving, and I did eventually see 3 darker ducks (probable hens) with 4 of the drakes later in the afternoon. This morning I did see 2 dark-looking ducks thru the fog on the water, but nothing later.
I didn’t know that you used this! Awesome. Bosque del Apache is pretty great, I’m going to try and take my parents there next week before everything leaves.