Visiting Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area early this afternoon, I found that all water surfaces were frozen and that the thousands of ducks that were present for the past few weeks had moved on; only 16 American coot, huddled on a small island, were present to represent the waterfowl.
Other sightings included a couple of great blue herons, three ring-billed gulls, two red-tailed hawks and an American kestrel, not to mention a large, restless flock of starlings.
We expect a modest warmup this week and then another Arctic front by next weekend; I suspect the ducks will stay south for a while. Whether we will encounter a significant number of migrant geese at Eagle Bluffs this season remains to be seen.
