Winter anglers

Sunday was a cold and blustery day, the kind that made me rethink my Sunday morning walk. Winds tore across the mountain, upturning my deck chairs with a clatter. Limbs littered my driveway and needed as much time to pick up as my cluttered living room. I opted for some car birding instead of a walk and drove to the Susquehanna River to see what was out and about.

Anglers, apparently, are hardier than I am.

I drove down to the Susquehanna River in hopes of finding something new for my 2011 York County bird list. That’s where I saw the anglers. The first was the gentleman in my first photo, standing in the river, bundled against the cold, with chunks of river ice floating past in a continuous parade. Even standing in the river he looked more comfortable than I felt.

My second angler was of the avian kind. This belted kingfisher was perched in a tree within feet of the first angler. Unfortunately, neither angler appeared to be having a very successful morning.

Despite the chill and wind, the birding was decent, if not spectacular. I added great black-backed gull and common merganser to my year list while at the river. Afterwards I made a swing past Pinchot Lake, where I scoped the birds on the lake’s one area of open water. The water was kept open in a small area by the united paddling of several hundred Canada goose feet. There, I also saw a small flock of common goldeneyes.

My year list is coming along, considering that it’s January. My walking? Well, I guess there’s always next Sunday for a nice long one of those.