thegreatconnection.com - Photo Archives March 2023

3 March 2023
37º- I do love winter - but I must say I can't wait until Spring starts this year. Maybe because things have been rather dull looking with so little snow coating for the trees and fields. However, a few birds and water fowl are arriving and today at Vischer Ferry there were mallards, geese and hooded mergansers of which I shot before they disappeared behind the reeds. Photo 1 - Mergansers . . . Photo 2 - Mergansers

7 March 2023
It was a cold windy day of 36º at Visher Ferry Nature Preserve. We saw the usual geese, ducks and occasional small birds flit by. While taking pleasure in watching winter slip into spring this afternoon, the following scene captured my eye.
Photo 1 - Threshold of Spring

11 March 2023
Still keeping an eye out for the elusive northern shrike. Spent nearly three hours walking the trail and it never did cross our path. The sun came out intermittently in the afternoon, which helped show off the purple and bronze colors of the grackle shown in photo 1 below.
Photo 1 - Common Grackle

20 March 2023
First day of Spring! Hurray! Actually, it arrived at 5:24 pm (3 hours after we left the Vischer Ferry Nature Preserve). Surprisingly, things were rather quiet - we saw no ducks or geese except in the old canal. Of smaller birds, a robin, cardinal and a few that quickly flew into the trees that we couldn't identify. Shown below are the geese and the mallards. ... A great day, ending with a get-together with our treasured friends, John and Nan.
Photo 1 - Canada Goose . . . Photo 2 - Canada Goose . . . Photo 3 - Mallard Ducks

22 March 2023
60º at the Galway Nature Preserve today. Felt great! Easy walking on the corn snow. Just like a few days ago, a black vulture was circling high above us. Before going over for our walk, I had glanced out the kitchen window and saw this white headed bird which I believe is a leucistic song sparrow. It was fortunate that it wasn't hiding behind any small twiggy branches so I was able to get three clear shots.
Photo 1 - Leucistic Sparrow . . . Photo 2 - Leucistic Sparrow . . . Photo 3 - Leucistic Sparrow

Excerpt from: https://avianreport.com: . . Only 236 of the 5.5 million birds reported each year had leucism or albinism, making up a tiny proportion of birds with abnormal plumages. In other words, only about 1 bird in 30,000 has leucistic or albinistic plumage. Based on these results, leucism and albinism are very rare occurrences among birds.