Lone Hoodie!

Female Hooded Merganser

It was about 9:15 when I arrived today and about 36 degrees. I realized Haynes was there milling around in the upper gardens so I headed right up there.

It was fairly quiet, save for some chickadees and song sparrows etc. No sign of the bluebirds, although last year at this time, I had seen a couple in the vicinity of one of their favorite birdhouses. 

We walked down to the lower gardens in hopes of seeing the hermit thrush which Mary Lou saw yesterday and surprisingly, after a few minutes, it turned up in the same area where it's been seen before! We had a nice look
at it.

Down near the soccer field we saw at least 16 robins, a goldfinch, caredinal and a mockingbird which seemed to enjoy terrorizing some of the robins. We also saw an interesting bird with an unusual wing shape high in the sky and flying very quickly. Haynes is fairly certain it was a merlin which is exciting as I think I saw this bird earlier and didn't know what it was.

At the pond, we saw a red winged blackbird in a tree and a laid back mallard couple as well as this female Hooded merganser which I believe Mary Lou also saw yesterday. She was all alone. I hope she finds a handsome guy to settle down with!