Tommy Thompson Park - two lifers and three Snowy Owls!

I went to Tommy Thompson Park on Saturday hoping for a Snowy Owl and any other lifer that could be seen! It was -2 degrees Celsius, had semi-freezing rain, and the large ponds that I saw all the waterfowl last time were frozen! However, I had a great time and was successful!

Here's what I saw:

30 Canada Geese

5 Ring-billed Gull

10 Herring Gull

10 Gadwall

20 Red-breasted Merganser

3 Common Merganser

2 Common Goldeneye

3 American Black Duck

20 Mallard

10 scaup sp.

20 Bufflehead

40 Long-tailed Duck

40 American Tree Sparrow

1 Song Sparrow

3 Black-capped Chickadee

1 American Kestrel

1 Great Horned Owl

3 Snowy Owl

1 Red-tailed Hawk

Here are some shots:

Lifer #173 Common Merganser was the first bird we saw!

5 Bufflehead were also present

Hordes of American Tree Sparrows were always around me

We then found and subsequently accidentally flushed this Snowy Owl! Lifer #174!

Then this Snowy Owl was found right afterwards! I'm sure it's a different individual.

Female American Kestrel perched atop a tree

Long-tailed Ducks in the rain

Greater Scaup? Lesser Scaup? Ring-necked Duck? Leave your opinion in the comments!

American Black Duck

A Great Horned Owl was perched nicely 25 feet up in a tree. It allowed me to get extremely close and get some great shots! I walked right under it, waved my arms, jumped up and down, and it didn't even flinch.

 As we headed back to the car, I spotted another Snowy Owl that was out on the ice! That makes three!

Comments appreciated!

Happy birding!

-Owen