Photo credit: Mick Thompson
Hello everyone,
After a few Saturdays of rain or possible rain, we were greeted with a beautiful late summer morning. The day started out pretty quiet, but picked up nicely a bit later.
The warblers have returned! The first species we spotted was a pair of Blackburnian warblers, whose orange wasn’t quite as brilliant as it is in the spring but was still gorgeous. We also had five additional warbler species and we’re looking forward to welcoming more back to the park soon. Some of our summer residents seem to have left us as we found no Red-winged Blackbirds or Purple Martins. However, the Barn Swallows have juveniles that they are still feeding so they’ll be around for a while longer until the kids are able to migrate.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were enjoying the jewelweed. For the first time in several weeks the mulberry tree did not have any birds in its branches – the Robins, Waxwings, finches, etc. ate all the fruit and abandoned the tree. Our Cedar Waxwing family made an appearance in their favorite dead tree on the east path.
We had our fan favorite heron trifecta plus Great Egret. It was a great raptor day too. A Broad-winged Hawk flew over us as we were on the outlook on the east side of the island and a Bald Eagle followed shortly thereafter. An Eastern Kingbird chased a Cooper’s Hawk away and a couple members of our group were lucky to spot a flyover Osprey.
BIRDERS: Eric B., Kristin H., Luther, Jeff, Caterina, Mark C., Leslie, Marian, Jennie, Mike, Eric G. Val, Madhu, Cheryl, Tabitha, Gary, Howard, Katie, Mark W., Robert, Simone, Traci, Marisa, Amir, Renate, and welcome to Bobbie, Joey and Kristin B. and Corey who were visiting from Albany, NY.
TIME: 8:00am to 11:40am
WEATHER: 69 degrees, sunny and beautiful
Compiler: Cheryl
Canada Goose Number observed: 45
Wood Duck Number observed: 10
Mallard Number observed: 4
Chimney Swift Number observed: 12
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Number observed: 4
Spotted Sandpiper Number observed: 2
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 6
American Herring Gull Number observed: 4
Caspian Tern Number observed: 1
Double-crested Cormorant Number observed: 4
Black-crowned Night Heron Number observed: 3
Green Heron Number observed: 6
Great Egret Number observed: 3
Great Blue Heron Number observed: 8
Osprey Number observed: 1
Cooper's Hawk Number observed: 2
Bald Eagle Number observed: 1
Broad-winged Hawk Number observed: 2
Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 1
Northern Flicker Number observed: 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee Number observed: 1
Least Flycatcher Number observed: 1
Empidonax sp. Number observed: 1
Eastern Phoebe Number observed: 2
Eastern Kingbird Number observed: 3
Eastern Warbling Vireo Number observed: 12
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 6
Barn Swallow Number observed: 10
White-breasted Nuthatch Number observed: 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Number observed: 2
European Starling Number observed: 6
Gray Catbird Number observed: 5
American Robin Number observed: 8
Cedar Waxwing Number observed: 8
House Sparrow Number observed: 1
House Finch Number observed: 2
American Goldfinch Number observed: 20
Baltimore Oriole Number observed: 2
American Redstart Number observed: 4
Cape May Warbler Number observed: 1
Magnolia Warbler Number observed: 1
Blackburnian Warbler Number observed: 3
Northern Yellow Warbler Number observed: 3
Blackpoll Warbler Number observed: 1
Northern Cardinal Number observed: 3
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