Force Lake & Broughton Beach

I stopped by Force Lake yesterday morning for a bit and was happy to find a nice variety of water birds..


I was not happy to find a nice variety of trash everywhere, especially after the great clean-up the Friends of Force Lake did last month.  (Thanks again to Christie for organizing it!)  I picked up what I could, but I'll be going back this weekend with a couple garbage bags.

Hooded and Common Mergansers have increased in numbers and are almost outnumbering the Mallards.  Newcomers to the lake included Green-winged Teals, Gadwalls, and Northern Shovelers.


I could make some kind of 70's disco shirt with the pattern in the water above.  Not that I need a 70's disco shirt.  Anyway, I thought it was interesting that when the teal took off with his lady friend, his wing patches were blue, not green:


Common Merganser, Gadwall, Northern Shovelers


Lots of other usuals around, but I was psyched to see a Horned Grebe in the lake for the first time.


And some usuals:

 Great Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorants, Common Mergansers, Mallard


Domestic Mallard


Mallard landing

After Force Lake I stopped by Broughton Beach on my way to run some work errands.  The Horned Lark flock was right there waiting for me.


Trying not to flush these guys with two dogs (on leash) was rather challenging..


I found one Western Meadowlark with the flock, but it seemed more wary of me than the others.


Good times!

Comments

  1. Sounds liked fun. I especially liked the photo of the Great Blue Heron, and how it had all those different birds sitting in groups of three in the background.
    The Larks were beautiful. Fun stuff!

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  2. Wow, looks like your lake is loaded! Too bad about the trash. What is wrong with people anyway??

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  3. I cant imagine what goes thru the minds of the people who throw out trash? Not anyone I'd ever want to have a conversation with anyways..
    Awesome line up today...some really great waterfowl--
    I spotted 2 mature bald eagles on the river today...I was working and my boss was driving so didnt get to stop and admire them.

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  4. Hey Jen-

    Where do you park when you go to Broughton Beach? I'd love to check out the horned larks.

    Thanks, Sarah

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  5. @Sarah- Just east of the Broughton Beach sign and the crosswalk there is a gravel parking area on the south side of Marine Drive. I verified with a cop once that it was okay to park there. Just be careful not leave anything in open sight in your car- there's tons of broken car window glass on the ground.

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