Yesterday afternoon there was a trio of male Bufflehead in the backwater slough at Riverfront Park. Today a trio, probably the same, in the same slough and another pair of males a couple hundred yards south in the channel. Then in the slough south of the Courtney footbridge there was a diving river otter. Each time he lowered his flat snout back beneath the surface and dove, the furry, spear-shaped tail would be last to submerge and point briefly toward the heavens.
Click on any image to get full screen view. The stand-out character among the local Canada Geese at Riverfront Park is a domestic goose. The breed’s common name is “African Goose” which is misleading because it comes from eastern Asia and is derived from a native species of wild goose found only in that region. Click here for more about this domestic escapee. This hefty goose must be able to fly because I don’t think it could arrive on foot hrough downtown traffic…though it might possibly have come along the river and then waddled up the steep bluff…
To the far left of the first scaup is a pied-billed grebe and the lone male ruddy duck within view.
Salem Riverfront Park, Marion, Oregon, US
Nov 24, 2021. 13 species (+1 other taxa)
Domestic goose sp. (Domestic type) 1
Canada Goose 50
Mallard 11
Green-winged Teal 1
Lesser Scaup 16
Bufflehead 5
Ruddy Duck 1
Pied-billed Grebe 3
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
California Scrub-Jay 1
American Crow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Salem Riverfront Park, Marion, Oregon, US
Nov 23, 2021
7 species
Mallard 24
Green-winged Teal 1
Bufflehead 3
Ring-billed Gull 3
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Great Blue Heron 1
Bushtit 20
Towheeblog 
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