This morning and early afternoon under mostly cloudy conditions Ed Hack and I looked for birds from Lake Runnemede in Windsor north to Pompy in Norwich. Highlights included a total of roughly 800 Canada Geese, of which about half were in Windsor; two other large flocks were in the Connecticut River south of Ledyard Bridge and in the Pompy area. Hooded Mergansers and lesser numbers of Common Mergansers were widespread along the river from Ledyard Bridge north to just south of Pompy. Mallards were also widespread along the river, and we saw a few black ducks today. The day was unusual in that waterfowl were seen at all four stops we made along the river between Ledyard Bridge and Pompy. In the Pompy area west of route 5, all the ducks we saw were flying over. There was still one male Ring-necked Duck at Lake Runnemede this morning, and Chris Rimmer, Ed, and I saw a distant female goldeneye at Ledyard Bridge. As Spencer and Doug pointed out in their UVB message of earlier today, the water level in the river today was about the lowest we've ever seen from Wilder Dam to the north. Also unusual for today, relative to our other recent days along the river, was duck hunting activity. Across from Kilowatt Park South in Wilder early this morning there were life-like decoy Mallards in the river and a hunting blind on the New Hampshire side. Other birds of special interest today included a Great Blue Heron seen to the north from the Ledyard Bridge and an adult Bald Eagle at Ledyard Bridge and at two other locations well to the north along the river. An adult Red-tailed Hawk was along I-91 southbound between Exits 10 and 9. Small numbers of Ring-billed Gulls were seen at Wilder Dam and Ledyard Bridge. Together with Chris, we saw a flock of 29 Cedar Waxwings at Ledyard Bridge. The only emberizine sparrows we saw along the river today were two American Tree Sparrows at Kilowatt Park North in Wilder. (Later, during the afternoon snowfall, I saw 14 juncos and 5 White-throated Sparrows in the backyard feeding area here in Norwich village.) George George Clark Norwich, VT **************************************************************** To post messages, send e-mail to: [log in to unmask] Set your e-mail application to PLAIN TEXT ONLY to post messages. To contact the list owner: [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------- Web based archives and subscription management are available at: http://listserv.dartmouth.edu/Archives/uv-birders.html ****************************************************************