Photo: Red-breasted nuthatch by Tim Bowman

Hello everyone,

It was a little chilly at the start of the walk but it quickly warmed up and became a gorgeous spring morning. Carpets of beautiful blue scilla covered the ground in many places on the island and the migrants were arriving and getting settled.

As Leslie described them, a flamboyant flock of feasting flickers was looking for breakfast in the soccer field. A European Starling was doing her spring cleaning by clearing out rubbish from a hole in a tree. There were a lot of Common Grackles flitting about and our Black-crowned Night Herons were back, perched at the top of a dead tree.

Other returning friends were Caspian Terns, an Eastern Towhee, Tree Swallows and a couple Eastern Phoebes who were singing their hearts out. A Cooper’s Hawk was perched near the Darrow Bridge and a Rusty Blackbird was spotted in the Japanese Garden.

One of the nicest birds of the morning was a very cute Horned Grebe that was swimming next to and under the south bridge. It gave us great, close looks and posed nicely for photos.

BIRDERS: Matthew, Mark C., Jen, Mike, Kristin, Gary, Eric, Mike M., Jennie, Pam, Sonya, Margo, Laura, Larry, Joanne, Jane, Beth, Marisa, Marilyn, Trevor, Mark W., Greg, Madeline, Tracy, Renate, Bruce, Monica and welcome to Ralph, Josh, Isabelle and Rachel.

TIME: 8:00am to 11:00am                 

WEATHER: 42 degrees but warmed quickly. Partly cloudy, light winds

Compiler: Mike

Photographers: Leslie, Marisa and Eric.        

Canada Goose  12
Wood Duck  2
Mallard  22
Common Merganser  1
Red-breasted Merganser  1
Horned Grebe  1
Killdeer  1
Ring-billed Gull  6
Herring Gull  2
Caspian Tern  5
Black-crowned Night-Heron  4
Cooper's Hawk  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  3
Downy Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  17
Eastern Phoebe  2
American Crow  3
Black-capped Chickadee  6
Tree Swallow  2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  7
Golden-crowned Kinglet  6
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Brown Creeper  2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Winter Wren  2
European Starling  7
Brown Thrasher  1
Hermit Thrush  3
American Robin  25
House Sparrow  3
House Finch  2
American Goldfinch  7
Fox Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  6
Eastern Towhee  1
Red-winged Blackbird  11
Brown-headed Cowbird  13
Rusty Blackbird  1
Common Grackle  10
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  8

If you’d like more information about a bird, check out the All About Birds ID guide:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/

Corrections, additions and comments are welcome.

Good birding everyone,

Jennie