Photo: Wilson’s warbler by Heather Roskelley
Hello everyone,
Spring is definitely here and our migrants are arriving! We had a lot of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Northern Yellow Warblers, Palm Warblers, and more. We found our first Canada Goose goslings of the year and a Downy Woodpecker was excavating a hole in a dead tree, surely in preparation for making a nest. It’s nesting season for House Sparrows too and they have taken over a couple of old Cliff Swallow nests under the museum’s south portico.
All our swallows have returned and were busily flying about. We had a flyover Bald Eagle and Turkey Vulture, and a Blue Jay was spotted. The vulture and the jay are not frequent visitors to our park so they were fun to see. We witnessed nature in action when a Cooper’s Hawk caught an American Robin.
We were serenaded throughout the walk by the Eastern Warbling Vireos, Northern Yellow Warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and the air was filled with bird song! It was lovely.
BIRDERS: Emily, Traci, Parag, Mark C., Jeffrey, Madhu, Mike, Jennie, Joe, Laurie, Roger, Daniela, Jane, Evan (with baby Patrick), David, Stacy, Amir, Sarah, Sandra, Robert, Simone, Eric, Marisa, Nolan, Mark D, Marian, Cheryl, Kristin, Luther, Gary, Rui, Caterina, and welcome to Piyush, Trish, Anna, Drew, Fred, Sushma and Adam.
TIME: 8:00am to 12:30pm
WEATHER: 38 degrees, sunny
Compiler: Cheryl
Canada Goose Number observed: 29
Wood Duck Number observed: 3
Mallard Number observed: 8
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) Number observed: 1
Mourning Dove Number observed: 1
Chimney Swift Number observed: 40
Spotted Sandpiper Number observed: 1
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 15
American Herring Gull Number observed: 3
Caspian Tern Number observed: 2
Double-crested Cormorant Number observed: 5
Black-crowned Night Heron Number observed: 1
Great Blue Heron Number observed: 2
Turkey Vulture Number observed: 1
Cooper's Hawk Number observed: 1
Bald Eagle Number observed: 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker Number observed: 1
Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 5
Northern Flicker Number observed: 1
small falcon sp. Number observed: 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee Number observed: 1
Eastern Phoebe Number observed: 3
Eastern Warbling Vireo Number observed: 6
Blue Jay Number observed: 2
American Crow Number observed: 4
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 7
Bank Swallow Number observed: 1
Tree Swallow Number observed: 3
Purple Martin Number observed: 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Number observed: 25
Barn Swallow Number observed: 14
Cliff Swallow Number observed: 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Number observed: 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet Number observed: 1
White-breasted Nuthatch Number observed: 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Number observed: 14
Northern House Wren Number observed: 3
European Starling Number observed: 5
Gray Catbird Number observed: 10
Brown Thrasher Number observed: 2
Hermit Thrush Number observed: 4
American Robin Number observed: 32
House Sparrow Number observed: 7
American Goldfinch Number observed: 9
Chipping Sparrow Number observed: 2
White-crowned Sparrow Number observed: 1
White-throated Sparrow Number observed: 21
Song Sparrow Number observed: 5
Swamp Sparrow Number observed: 1
Baltimore Oriole Number observed: 4
Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 25
Brown-headed Cowbird Number observed: 6
Common Grackle Number observed: 9
Ovenbird Number observed: 1
Northern Waterthrush Number observed: 2
Orange-crowned Warbler Number observed: 1
Northern Yellow Warbler Number observed: 10
Palm Warbler Number observed: 16
Yellow-rumped Warbler Number observed: 18
Northern Cardinal Number observed: 6
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