Birds - A Stitch and a Road Trip

Design - "St Patrick's Bird"

Designer - Heart in Hand

Fabric - 32 count Summer Khaki linen

Fibers - GAST & WDW - 2 strands over 2 threads

Started - 14 March 2016

Completed - 23 March 2016

This was good fun - I like all the shades of green used for the shamrocks.

On Friday my mom and I took a road trip north to visit the William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge. It was established in 1964 to provide winter habitat for the subspecies of dusky Canada Geese.  They nest almost exclusively in Alaska's Copper River delta, and winter in the Willamette Valley. The refuge is large - over 5700 acres.

Winter is the best time to see the largest numbers and varieties of waterfowl, but we still managed to see several 'firsts' for us including the male Green-winged Teal on the right of this photo. 

And isn't this an elegant pair of ducks?

A female and male Northern Pintail.

Here they are again.

This male Hooded Merganser was by far the coolest looking duck. My photo leaves much to be desired.

If you look closely among all the Mallards on the left is the female Hooded Merganser with a fuzzy copper head. 

It was no surprise to see lots of American Coots.

This blurry photo is the best I managed of a pair of Lesser Scaups.

While we were too late in the year to see Tundra Swans, there were Canada Geese everywhere!  In the air...

...on the ground...

...and in the water.

The Northern Shoveler is well-named.  Take a look at that bill.  I'm sure he uses as a shovel to unearth food.

In a pond near the headquarters, we spied a pair of Ring-necked Ducks. 

Here's the female with the bright white ring on her bill...

...the male also has a white band on his bill.

We saw lots of other birds besides waterfowl.  I'll share those on an upcoming post later this week.