Pole Farm and Rosedale Park

Snow started early but slowly on Saturday (after about 2" on Friday that didn't melt) so I felt it was foolish to head further afield. Instead I checked the nearest birding spots: Pole Farm and Rosedale Park. I don't bird Rosedale Park much because it is more heavily used.

At Pole Farm it was me and a Mercer Co Park ranger. It was also low in bird diversity, and in fact there were two individuals: the ongoing American Kestrel, and a Northern Harrier male. I'd come to check for Harriers to see if the snow had pushed any more into Pole Farm, but that male was the only one I saw and it left Pole Farm and headed to neighboring farm fields. The Kestrel was perched over the usual sparrow spot, so nothing was active there.

So on to Rosedale Park where I had low expectations. Almost immediately I came across about 40 Horned Larks in a flock at the edge of the driveway, feeding on a partially cleared patch of earth. These are my first ones for Mercer Co. The lake itself had an open patch and a lot of Canada Geese were roosting here. There may well be a Cackling Goose in this group (seen feeding nearby on a CBC) but I couldn't see it. However as I was scoping a small flock of Northern Shoveler flew into the pond. These are also my first for Mercer Co. There was nothing else in the vicinity of the parking lot and I was apparently making the geese a little nervous, so I left.

Not a bad 45 minutes of birding wedged in before the snowfall got heavier.