More Bird Walks

I went on not one, but two bird walks today.

The first was along the bike trail in the Lambs Creek Recreation Area. I started at the same spot as yesterday but took the trail south back toward Mansfield. That meant crossing the fields, run north-south and walking along the east side of the fields...between the fields and Tioga River. Not much in the fields (except Robins, Canada Geese and...well, that's about it. But on/in the strip of woods along the river and in the river itself was a different story.

The highlight of this walk was the presence of the Belted Kingfisher. There were three of them flying about the river near the old/closed bridge that linked up with Lamb's Creek Road. My report to eBird:

Location: Lambs Crk Rec Area
Observation date: 4/14/09
Notes: Cool and overcast with light breeze. The temperature was around 42-43 degrees. I started at the porta-potty on the road to the boat launch off Route 15. Followed the bike trail south toward Mansfield (crossing the open fields to get to the west side of the fields near the old, closed bridge to Lamb's Creek Road). When the bike trail came out at the boat launch road again, I followed it back to my vehicle.

Number of species: 25

Canada Goose 12
Wood Duck 2
Mallard 1
Common Merganser (North American) 2
Great Blue Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 1
Belted Kingfisher 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 8
Black-capped Chickadee 8
Tufted Titmouse 3
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
American Robin 34
Song Sparrow 20
White-throated Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 2
Northern Cardinal 5
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 1
American Goldfinch 4

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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The second walk was over at Ive's Run/Crooked Creek. With the Belted Kingfishers present at Lamb's Creek Rec Area I wanted to see if the Ospreys were back, too. I parked at the bridge just inside the entrance from Rt 287 and walked the Railroad Grade Trail for about a mile until I reached the fields maintained by Fish and Game as food plots. Oh, and the Ospreys are back. I saw three of them over Crooked Creek. They may have been staying away from Hammond Lake because 1- the water level is only now back to bank full after being drawn down all winter, or 2- that's where the Bald Eagles hang out. (I saw three of them too.) The report on this walk:


Location: Ive's Run-Crooked Creek
Observation date: 4/14/09
Notes: Cool (43-45 degrees) and overcast with light breeze along the railroad grade trail.

I parked at the east end of the Railroad Grade Trail and walked westward to the fields managed by Fish & Game. The Eagles were split: one immature flew over as I parked, then one mature adult and one immature were seen as I was leaving on Rt. 287.

Number of species: 24

Canada Goose 14
Wood Duck 2
Mallard 9
Ring-necked Duck 9
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 3
Mourning Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue Jay 7
American Crow 3
Common Raven 1
Tree Swallow 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 8
Black-capped Chickadee 8
Eastern Bluebird 3
American Robin 9
Field Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 15
Common Grackle 15

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)



The total distance of both walks was around 4 to 4.5 miles.

And I got the onion sets planted when I got home. Not many. I put in just 48 little sets.