On our weekly visit to Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, limited by a two-hour birding window and restricted access within the refuge, a friend and I noted a pickup in the autumn waterfowl migration yesterday afternoon. We encountered about 120 individuals, dominated by mallards, coot, green-winged teal and pied-billed grebes.
No migrant geese, pelicans or cormorants were observed, though we did see an immature bald eagle, a red-tailed hawk and three northern harriers. Red-winged blackbirds offered the only true spectacle as large flocks moved among the trees.
The sluggish autumn waterfowl migration may accelerate in the coming week as cold, north winds develop on the backside of the Pacific storm that is crossing the Heartland. Migrants often take advantage of a strong tailwind and the temperature drop up north may be an incentive to head south.
