Following a period of frigid air and snow, it was sunny and mild in Columbia today, coaxing a friend and I down to Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area. There we were greeted by muddy roads, frozen shallows and a modest increase in the migrant duck population.
Mallards dominated the waterfowl, joined by smaller numbers of American coot, gadwall, American wigeon, ring-necked ducks, green-winged teal and hooded mergansers. Seven Wilson's snipe foraged across a mudflat while a northern harrier and a red-tailed hawk patrolled the refuge. Once again, red-winged blackbirds provided the most impressive spectacle; having gathered in their massive winter flocks, we estimated that 4000 were observed today.
I'm not sure I have ever made it into December without encountering my first flock of migrant geese (at least not since moving to central Missouri in 1997) but they continue to evade me. Perhaps they'll all come south at once when (and if) the northern wetlands freeze over.
