Stratford Scenes

I spent part of the afternoon today along the Avon River in Stratford.  Recent mild weather reopened the river which had been frozen not long before.  Both ducks and gulls have descended upon the open water.  The temperature was hovering around freezing, but there was little wind and I was anxious to put my new camera to the test.

My first sighting was this drone.  First time I've seen one used around here.  I scanned the area a bit, but could not see the operator.

Mallards were by far the most common duck on the river.

I was hoping for the long staying ring-necked duck or a couple hooded mergansers.  Both were present on the Christmas bird count, but they presumably moved on when things froze.]

There had been some interesting gulls reported lately and I scanned the large group halfway across the river.  I had just started picking through them when they all took off at once. 

I thought I had lost the opportunity to look through them, but the flock landed on a different portion of river and I came upon them again as I came down the trail.  Most were herring, but a juvenile glaucous gull near the edge stood out from the rest.  It was in no hurry to move and I got some good shots.

 I also found what appears to be an adult glaucous in the photo below. 

Juvenile centre left, adult center right.

The glaucous gull is a new species for me.  I don't usually have the patience to pick apart large flocks of gulls so it was great to find this species.

Towards the end of my walk I found a large group of mallards being fed.

Spring migrants are slowly starting to trickle back in.  It will be interesting to see what shows up in the upcoming weeks.