Monday, March 26, 2007

Birding, some more

Terry and I went birding this morning with some folks from the Tiadaghton Chapter of the Audubon Society. We gathered at Ives Run at the west end of Hammond Lake. It was about 50 degrees but a chilly wind blew out of the west. Much of the ice on the lake was out and the Crooked Creek was running high and muddy. The osprey we saw had success in catching a nice fish almost as long as he was. Our leader, Gary, compiled the list of species and the numbers of each seen.

Number of species: 25

Canada Goose 85
Mallard 5
American Black Duck 1
Common Merganser 6
Turkey Vulture 3
Osprey 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 2
Ring-billed Gull 12
Mourning Dove 3
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
American Crow 6
Tree Swallow 20
Black-capped Chickadee 3
Eastern Bluebird 4
American Robin 4
European Starling 2
Song Sparrow 4
Dark-eyed Junco 25
Red-winged Blackbird 12
Common Grackle 6
American Goldfinch 6

Not a shabby tally.

When we got home, I went outside and saw these additions: ruffed grouse, red-breasted nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch (2), hairy woodpecker, turkey vulture, robins (3), plus numerous individual birds of the species already on the list: chickadees, juncos, goldfinches, downy woodpeckers, and song sparrows. Terry and I also heard several turkeys calling in the woods as we unloaded some things from the truck.

If you'd like to see what any of these birds look like, go on over to eNature.com and lok them up.

1 comment:

gregor said...

I just read that a pair of nesting Bald Eagles have been discovered in the old Naval Yard in South Philadelphia. There's already talk of trying to relocate them because they are in the way of pending development. That's if some moron doesn't pick them off, thanks to the publicity.