The Excitement Never Ends

Red-breasted Merganser

So yesterday we went back down to the river, and although we didn't see the Black-bellied Plover again, we did meet two expert birders, with whom I was delighted to chat a bit. (Met one of them last spring in the same spot...so nice to encounter him again and to meet his friend .)

They identified a little flock of small shorebirds that kept whirling past us as Dunlin, which are new for me in the county, although I have seen them before at Montezuma.

A little better photo of the scoters....but only a little

They went down to Yankee Hill with us too, and confirmed that the birds there were indeed Surf Scoters, as they were still hanging around.

It spit and spat and sputtered rain all day today, so I did a short walk around the house and called it good until late this afternoon.

Then we went back down to Schoharie Crossing, as it had stopped raining for a bit.

It was COLD (!!!) down there and the wind was roaring, so I bent over to zip my hoodie.

There, right at my feet, right at the edge of the water, was a merganser. I have been looking, both here and at Montezuma, for a Red-breasted Merganser for at least a year. I have seen dozens of Common Mergs and find them delightful....but I wanted the rarer one.

And guess what..... 

Red-breasted Merganser