Hills Creek yielded the largest number of species--and I only covered a small part of what we do on our Saturday walks. I primarily stayed in the day use/beach area walking the shoreline. I did go to the northern end at the Beaver Dam boat launch and picked up a Tundra Swan (very late in the year!), Double-crested Cormorant, and a Barred Owl there.
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan* (Large white swan with all black bill.)
Wood Duck
Mallard
Common Merganser
Double-crested Cormorant
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Spotted Sandpiper
Mourning Dove
Barred Owl
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
* First of the year
There was another oddity: A male Wood Duck seemed to be hanging with a female Common Merganser. Now, I know that they both will lay eggs in the same nest boxes, but these two looked and behaved like a mated pair. A real odd couple.
The pictures (I apologize for the poor quality. The subjects were backlit and made getting them in focus difficult.) :
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| Tundra Swan |
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| Spotted Sandpiper |
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| The Odd Couple: Female Common Merganser and male Wood Duck |
******
The Muck was my second stop and it too produced some "new" birds. The trail out to the blind was partially underwater just before reaching the boardwalk. The recent rains have really raised water levels! Nonetheless, I waded through the 2-3 inches of water and am glad I did! I was not in the blind long when a Common Gallinule showed up. And far out in the water there was a Canvasback. Both were "new" for the year.
The Muck list:
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Canvasback* (Listed as "rare for this time and place by eBird)
Ring-necked Duck (Listed as "rare for this time and place by eBird)
Great Blue Heron
Red-tailed Hawk
Common Gallinule* (Listed as "rare for this time and place by eBird)
Mourning Dove
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Marsh Wren (Listed as "rare for this time and place by eBird)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Yellow Warbler*
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
The pictures:
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| Common Gallinule |
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| Ring-necked Duck |
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| Canvasback |
******
It was nearly noon when I reached Darling Run and with the lateness of the day, I wasn't surprised that things were very, very slow. After checking out the eagles' nest across the creek, I walked from the parking area south along the bike trail to mile marker 9 (about 1/2 mile) and back.
The meager list form that mile walk:
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Gray Catbird
Common Yellowthroat
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Only one bird "posed" for a photo:
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| Female Downy Woodpecker |
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| Female Downy Woodpecker |
It's been a couple of beautiful days weatherwise and in the field. I think I'm going to stay home tomorrow even if the weather is nice and spend some time around the house. We've a team together for the Global Big Day coming up on Saturday and, with the Hills Creek bird walk kicking things off, it's going to be a long day of birding.
1 comment:
Nice lists and photos. I love your bird posts. You are doing better than we are at finding them. It is so darned cold and windy here even the feeder birds make themselves scarce. Haven't seen a new bird since a pair of Solitary Sandpipers on the 6th. Not for want of trying.
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