Monday 1 January 2018

Birds of the New Year

This morning was Nature London's annual New Year's Day walk in Greenway Park along the Thames River in London.

We found multiple species of the expected ducks, such as Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Common Merganser, Hooded Merganser, American Black Duck, and Mallard. Canada Geese were also numerous.

Common Merganser

Surprisingly, we also were able to find a couple rarer species of ducks. Although not completely unexpected, Northern Pintails are scare and hard to find along the Thames. There was a nice drake to be found with some Mallards.


Long-tailed Ducks are typically not found on the Thames river, so it was a complete surprise when the group found a female today. It was actually a Middlesex lifer for me!


It's not a duck, but it is still are water bird! The group got great looks at a Pied-billed Grebe, a rare bird for Middlesex in the winter. Two years ago we had a Pied-billed Grebe on the walk as well!


Bald Eagles are always a highlight of a winter walk along the Thames, and there was not shortage of them today! I saw at least four.



Well, it was a pretty good start to what I know will turn out to be a great year! One down, 364 days to go!

On a side note, here is a video of some of the birds in the backyard today!


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