From: Chris Howard
Email: choward@telis.org
Date: 12/2/01
Time: 3:28:31 PM
Remote Name: 209.209.66.218
Yesterday's (1 Dec) ESAS trip, led by Jon Dunn, pulled many good birds out of the otherwise inclement weather; cool temps, light snow and rain on and off all day. The highlight was the 50 ft view of Tinemaha Reservoir's continuing White-winged Scoter (viewed from the dam). There we also had this year's first of winter Bald Eagle (imm.) for Inyo as well as a Golden Eagle fly-by. A Herring Gull (first winter) was too distant for excellent views, but good enough for some (one) of us to id it! One of the more interesting predator/prey relationships witnessed was a female Northern Harrier hovering over a coot out on the reservoir...when the coot surfaced, the harrier dropped down talon first to the water to snag it...the coot would re-submerge for as long as it could, surface, grab a breath then resubmerge...the harrier never never did snag it before she gave up.
Fish Springs Road had 4 Ferruginous Hawks, a Prarie Falcon, and a Golden Eagle.
Klondike Lake had a Rough-legged Hawk, a Snow Goose, 2 Common Mergansers, and 150 American White Pelicans.
We finished the day in light snow at Crowley marina, where there were 2 Pacific Loons, a handful of Common Goldeneye, and a couple more Common Mergansers.