First a couple of bird watching notes: It has been an odd winter for me regarding migrants. I didn't see many this fall and, except for a huge flock I saw during the Christmas Bird Count, I've seen very few Robins. That is until a couple of days ago. When the last cold front moved through I saw several hundred southbound as I stood in my yard. Then, yesterday, while walking the dog I saw another huge flock (again in the hundreds) in some trees near the park where we were hanging out. At least until the falcon ran them off. Unfortunately I had only a fleeting glimpse - it was probably a Kestrel but can't rule out Merlin (I'll never know the answer to that mystery). This morning Robins were moving north over my house - easily over 1,000 of them!

This evening I was on my way to the store when I caught sight of a black and white bird next to a pond as I drove past and was completely baffled. I turned back around, stopped in a legal but precarious spot next to the curb and immediately realized that I had never seen a Hooded Merganser out of the water before today though I easily seen hundreds of them. His "hood" was down which is not exactly unusual, what had thrown me was the white feathers on its breast. I'll know next time.

Traveling around the blogosphere I happened upon a new one for me, Crows Really Are Wise, an interesting and informative blog written by an ornithologist. The newest entry when I visited was a great piece, Wind Farms and Migratory Birds which is all about a plan to place wind farms off the Texas Gulf Coast - right in the path of northbound Neotropical migrants. Going back through previous posts I found one titled How did bird migration evolve?. This blog isn't totally about birds, either; the Wise Crow also writes about music (like this piece about Jackson Browne) and other topics. Take a look when you have the chance . . .