This week I birded around the Pioneer Ridge Nature Area located South of Ottumwa, IA and Lake Wapello State Park. I got to go out three days and saw a total of 28 species. I was also able to witness a River Otter (Lontra canadensis) sliding down a pond bank, just behind our nature center, to the ice below. It was likely going to fish beneath the ice, but it saw me across the pond and fled back up the hill. This was the first otter that I've ever seen in the wild and, of course, it's the day I didn't bring my camera. I was able to take some pictures on my phone of the slide and some of the otters tracks in the snow along the trails.
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| Where the otter slid down the pond bank. |
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| Otter tracks in the snow. |
Below is a list of the bird species that I observed:
- White-throated Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- American Tree Sparrow
- American Robin
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- Tufted Titmouse
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Song Sparrow
- American Crow
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Northern Cardinal
- American Goldfinch
- Purple Finch (lifer 245)
- Eastern Bluebird
- Brown Creeper
- Blue Jay
- Northern Flicker
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Bald Eagle
- Ring-billed Gull
- Common Goldeneye
- Mallard
- Trumpeter Swan
- Canada Goose
- Cackling Goose
My highlight was all of the Trumpeter Swans at Lake Wapello State Park. I counted a total of 144 with more likely in the area. They were wading in an open area of the lake with about 200 Canada Geese, 50 Cackling Geese, 22 Mallards, and a few Common Goldeneyes. This was the most swans I've ever seen in one place and reminded me a little of seeing the Sandhill Cranes migrating through Nebraska in past years.
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| Lone Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator). |
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| Small group of swans displaying mature and immature plumage. |
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