After dropping my wife off at the airport I got into the parking lot around 6:15am, still mostly dark and about 20DegF. Hoped to scare up an owl but no luck on that front. There was a constant sound of geese that's just higher than the ever-present I70 background noise. Walked South towards blinds (away from the dam). Along the Niedrach Trial boardwalk there was just enough light for the first group of geese to see me and for me to make out an occasional Snow Goose.

Continuing along the trail I spotted a Golden Eagle at about 50 feet up headed towards the geese I just left. Because it was flying into the morning light it's a little questionable that it could've been an immature Bald eagle, but I saw only dark color, a golden head, and it wasn't with other eagles, so I'll stick with that. One of the photogs I met at the Gazebo said there is a local one, so I'm happy with the ID.

At the first viewing platform/point there was some open water and there were small groups of Redheads, Pintails, Mallards, Ring-neckeds, along with some geese.

Towards the Gazebo Boardwalk the mountains were pink in the distance with alpenglow, along with some lenticular clouds (see pics). Along the trail I met my first flock of White-Crowned Sparrows feeding hard in the dead plants. They weren't tame, but I could get quite close to them as they were more interested in feeding.

Lucky to catch a Northern Harrier as it started its morning feeding, flying low around me.

Spent about 5 minutes creeping out the boardwalk trying not to spook the main flock of geese. They complained, but were more worried about the Bald eagles in the trees.

Several thousand geese, mostly Cackling, some Canada, and 7 Snow Geese. No tiny Ross' geese, no White-fronted, and no obvious hybrids, although I didn't scan them really hard. The theme all day was every larger V of geese had a few Snow Geese in it.

Spent about 15 minutes at the Gazebo ID'ing ducks - many Pintail and Mallard (about equivalent numbers), some Common Mergansers, some Ring-necked. Talked with 3 older guys with giant cameras - two of whom had arrived on bikes - who were there to photograph the eagles. There was a group of about 8 a half mile away on the ice, feeding, maybe 10 more I could see in distant trees. They just sit in the local deciduous trees looking down at the geese and periodically swoop in to pester them and kill one. See the video of the geese after they've been disturbed.

Walked the extra mile to the second gazebo - it was dead over there, but worth the effort to see some more species. The Green-winged Teal were more in the backwaters and a little hidden. Two separate hawks that I failed to ID which bugs me - I continue to feel like hawks and gulls are my next skill to improve. Ducks are easier.

More species on the way back, including a small group of shovelers (last time I was here there were 100's, maybe 1000's), a pair of Lesser Scaup, a Bufflehead, and another pair of giant-lensed eagle photographers (I think I'll call them GLEP's).

Nearing the end I was asked by two women how far it was to see the eagles, as they had to get to the airport soon. I got them a look through the scope at the group still out on the ice. People are definitely there to see the eagles.

It was almost 11 by the time I got back to the car, not really tempted to try up towards the dam. Disappointed to only get House Sparrows at the visitor center feeder - I usually can count on a few last-minute "parking lot birds" to pad my list.

Took my time, happy with a final species count of 33 which was the high for the last couple of weeks.

6 miles, 4 hours

ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S212321489