NIC Loop and Higgens Point Field Trip
Submitted by Ted Smith, Field Trip Leader and Chapter President
Today, nine hearty souls met at the Fernan Ranger Station Parking area at 8 am on this cold Saturday morning. The temperature was 17 degrees when I left my house. Our first stop was the trail parking area on Lakeshore Drive just beyond the resort. The wind was in our faces and at first frosty exposure it looked like we wouldn’t find much here. Then the birds started popping up. Canada geese, cormorants, three grebe species and some buffleheads and goldeneyes. We even got a bonus song sparrow. Everyone agreed that the wind off the lake was eye wateringly cold.
A stop at Higgens Point was most rewarding as we encountered both species of goldeneyes swimming together close to us. This made for a wonderful teaching moment showing folks how to identify the two and how to tell them apart. Mixed in with the Barrow’s goldeneyes and common goldeneyes was a beautiful hooded merganser. Interestingly, there were absolutely no bald eagles in the area.
After Higgens Point, we moved west and drove the NIC loop. The domestic mallards mixed in with the wild mallards made for a great comparison. Lots of geese and quite a few double-crested cormorants were also present. We added to this list with a stop at the float plane docks where we saw horned grebes, female mergansers (probably red-breasted) and ring-billed gulls.
Binoculars and a spotting scope help birders identify species on this beautiful Winter day along NIC Loop.
A final stop was at the east end of Fernan Lake. The lake was mostly frozen over but we did see goldeneyes, buffleheads, and finally 2 bald eagles. We finished the trip with a coffee and warm-up stop in town. It was a really rewarding trip. Several folks were surprised by how many species we saw on this bitingly cold morning. We had two folks new to us join in and I think they both had a good time.
Species list:
Canada goose, mallard, domestic mallard, bufflehead, common goldeneye, Barrow’s goldeneye, Hooded merganser, merganser sp., ring-billed gull, pied-billed grebe, horned grebe, red-necked grebe, double-crested cormorant, bald eagle, common raven, house finch, dark-eyed junco, song sparrow