The twelve adult and one juvenile Tundra Swans at Lake Superior
This morning I headed out to try to find some winter finches and the Northern Shrike I had seen Friday. I dipped on all of those. I did however have a great waterfowl day. Though I had only seven species, sometimes its the quality and the quantity! I had Common and Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, Ruddy Ducks, Canada Geese, Mallard and Black Ducks. The exciting find however came in the form of 13 TUNDRA SWANS on Lake Superior! This is a record high count of Tundra Swans for Sullivan County! I also had a total of 500 Common Mergansers on Kiamesha Lake, 130 on Wanaksink Lake and 75 on Lake Superior! That is also a single day high count of this species! All in all a great day!
A distant shot of many of the Common Mergansers at Kiamesha Lake.
Not quite so piled up, all thirteen viewable in this shot.
Congratulations on another amazing find, John. So exciting to see that many Tundra Swans!
Thanks Kathy! I only wish it would happen here more often. The bottom line is that the distance these birds fly in a single flight just means they normally overfly our county entirely. I’m glad for their occasional rest stop!