Late this afternoon I stopped by Stewart Park. From the shelter of my car I scoped across many of the usual waterfowl on the rotting ice, a few on the water, and some in between crawling among the mounds of frozen mud once kicked-up by storm waves. As I panned, a surprise appeared in the foreground of my view: on a dead tree which has been stuck offshore since last spring's floods, perched atop the tallest branch was an adult PEREGRINE FALCON. It was ruffled and soggy in today's rain, but those huge yellow feet are not to be messed with. These snags add so much to the habitat, and in a form which I find pleasing to the eye. Had the light been brighter I would have been alerting photographers.
Also present were several pairs of AMERICAN WIGEON and AMERICAN BLACK DUCK on the ice among the numerous CANADA GEESE and MALLARDS, several AMERICAN COOTS on the dike of mud-ice, numerous COMMON MERGANSERS and a pair of RING-NECKED DUCKS swimming just beyond, and 1 RUDDY DUCK swimming alone out in the lake. Among gulls I only picked out the usual RING-BILLED, HERRING and GREAT BLACK-BACKED.
--Dave Nutter
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