I have been away for the month of February leading Wise Birding tours in California and Minnesota. These days I tend to try and keep this blog for just local wildlife sightings, but as the Canada Lynx encounter we enjoyed in Minnesota was pretty exceptional, I thought I would share the video here. As you will see, it was an amazing encounter and one which will never be forgotten!
Back in Devon, I was very pleased to find a drake Ring-necked Duck on Bicton Lake, East Budleigh during the early evening of 8th March. I presume it was one of the two drakes that friend Matt Knott found at nearby Blackhill Quarry on the 20th Feb whilst I was in the US, so not a true “pure find" for me, but very nice on the doorstep nonetheless!
It seems the two birds were last reported from Black Hill Quarry on the 24th Feb. Then a drake appeared at Bowling Green on the 5th March and was present there again on the 9th March. I (and others) have visited Bicton Lake a few times since, but the bird was only present on the evening of the 8th March. Who knows if it is the BGM bird or if it is the other drake that has simply been hiding elsewhere?
Other than the duck excitement, LORP continues to look good and I had a count of 12 Water Pipits there on the 5th March. This is now the 3rd consecutive winter that I have had double counts of Water Pipit here with similar flock sizes in Dec 2019 and Dec 2020. See HERE and HERE
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| Drake Ring-necked Duck Bicton Lake, East Budleigh |
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