Hi All, A great day to be out in the field and a seeming abundance of birds in a number of spots. Highlights species wise were 9 SNOW BUNTINGS at Compo beach mixed in with a fair sized flock of Horned Larks. Also off of Compo were huge rafts of ducks including many hundreds if not thousands of Common Goldeneye, Oldsquaw and Greater Scaup (I was reading of a Greater Scaup flock off of NY a week or so back that totaled an estimated 25,000 birds). It would seem that there is some kind of big plankton bloom (if that is the right term or even phenomenon) that any number of waterfowl and gulls are making the most of off of Westport beaches at the moment at Southport beach these included a beautiful 1CY ICELAND GULL amongst a whole slew of large gulls and one rather lonely looking Bonaparte's (hopefully more small gulls are on there way). Raptors were also present in the shape of 3 BLACK VULTURES as well as a Great Horned Owl, and bird song accompanied us the whole morning. From what started as a rather gloomy looking day we were blessed with some nice birds and some great weather. Luke Tiller Wilton