The First Buffleheads

I start in Portage Bay and head as direct as one can to the north end of Union Bay. It is a partly cloudy day but when the sun is out it, it is out with all of its might.

I spot the first bufflehead of the fall just north of #1 island. There is a male and a female, but the male flies off, so I don't think that they were paired.

I spot a coopers hawk in the osprey tree. As I head east, I see a bald eagle, some 600 yards off, sitting on the peak of a boat house, its white head a tiny speck out of place on a background of dark green.In the NE lagoon, the ducks leave as I enter, as they always do, but a red tailed hawk stays for awhile. Feathers in the water show that something has been eaten in the last few hours, probably by one of the eagles.

As I go down through the east marsh towards the channel that rounds the burial island, I spot a second pari of buffleheads. These two fly off in close formation.