This morning started off cool and a bit cloudy, but I was feeling up to an outing and, after checking eBird for recent sightings, I decided to visit McGinnis Slough. I haven’t been there in months and it was time to see some more birds in a different habitat. It was especially gratifying to see that the recent rain has improved the water level from last year.

Predictably perhaps, the first birds I saw were some American Coots. They weren’t in huge numbers but they were just about everywhere.

And this is a very popular place for Red-winged Blackbirds. In addition to scores of males on territories, I saw my first female of the species.

Then I started seeing some distant Ring-necked Ducks. All these photos were taken at quite a distance and have been heavily cropped.

There were a couple Pied-billed Grebes.

Here’s a male Ring-necked Duck and a Pied-billed Grebe,

More Ring-necked Ducks. You’ll hardly ever see the ring on their necks. I have seen it only once and the bird was much closer than these were.

Then I was very happy to see a Horned Grebe rather close in the marshy area next to the mowed trail. I used to see these birds frequently on the lakefront when I worked downtown, but it’s been years since I’ve seen one. This is the same bird at the top of the post.

There were a couple Northern Shovelers at the far edge of the same area and the male suddenly took off.

I walked all the way back to the northern end of the trail where you can view the largest part of the slough. There wasn’t a lot to see as the waterfowl were sparsely distributed at quite a distance, but the toads were making a racket. I sat on the picnic table and listened to them.

Then, as I walked back toward the center and the parking lot, an Osprey flew overhead.

I said goodbye to the Horned Grebe and headed home. In my backyard, the birds had emptied the feeders, except for the American Goldfinches who were still working on the nyjer seeds that I refill their feeders with daily. They have had it good all winter. The photos were taken through the back porch screened windows.

A male House Finch flew in for a second and I almost caught him on his way out except for a photo-bombing goldfinch.

It’s been a good day. The sun is shining and it looks like we have a few more cold days ahead but soon it will be warm enough to start cleaning up the yard and welcoming the greening of everything. I hope to be done with this cold by my next post. I’ve been improving steadily.