—–Original Message—– [mailto:NVBIRDS@LIST.AUDUBON.ORG] On Behalf Of Martin Meyers Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2012 20:03 around Reno
I began the day at the Lemmon Valley Sewer Ponds, where the first bird I saw was an adult Bald Eagle hunting the ponds — flying low over each pond. Ducks scattered, but the eagle didn’t get anything. Since I had gone there hoping to see the two ducks previously reported by Meg (Eurasian Wigeon, later also reported by Fred, and female Barrow’s Goldeneye), the Bald Eagle excitement, while fun, had the probability of being somewhat counter-productive. However, I was able to find the female Barrow’s in the outermost ponds, and, after considerable searching, the male Eurasian Wigeon out in the middle of the playa.=20 Cold temperatures and clouds helped, as there was no heat distortion for distant scope viewing. About 125 Tundra Swans continued on the playa, and all the usual ducks were present, including 14 Lesser Scaup and one male Ring-neck.
Next stop was Virgina Lake, where I saw an interesting gull. A first-cycle Herring-type gull with mostly white head, solid black bill (most Herring Gulls by this time of year have begun to show some pale at the base of the lower mandible) and minimal streaking on uppertail coverts, with that area appearing white in flight at any distance. The wings seemed pretty typical for Herring, with all-dark outermost primaries, and pale inner-primary window. I got some photos, so I’ll spend some time later seeing how it matches up with the typical (Smithsonianus) Herring Gull, vs. perhaps some more exotic sub-species.=20 I never got as close to it as I would have liked, unfortunately. The Snow Geese that have been around for awhile were not present when I was there today.
At the Lakeridge Golf Course, I observed the continuing female Eurasian Wigeon (making this a two Euro Wigeon day.) This is the third time I’ve seen two Eurasian Wigeons on the same day in the Reno area (but on the other two occasions, 11/20/93 at Virginia Lake and 11/26/04 at Lemmon Valley, the two were together.)
A brief stop at Rosewood Lakes (firehouse pond) brought nothing remotely unusual.
Final stop was Sparks Marina. Lots of gulls — probably the most I’ve seen this winter. There was one adult Mew Gull along with ten Herring Gulls (1 first-cycle, 2 secoond-cycle, 7 adult.) There was a rather unusual looking first-cycle Ring-billed Gull — plumage was typical but the bill was somewhat thin and pointed, sort of like a Mew Gull. I think it was just a slightly deformed bill, rather than any kind of hybrid or anything even stranger. (I did wait around for it to fly to make sure the tail/rump pattern was typical for Ring-bill — it was.)
All in all, an interesting day.
Martin
————— Martin Meyers email: Martin (…AT…) SierraBirdbum.com Photo website: http://SierraBirdbum.com Truckee, CA
