Eight birders set out in a just-ending rain shower with temperatures hovering below 50 degrees to find what the latest migration had to offer. Bird calls were infrequent and sightings even less so for the first leg of our journey toward Wildcat Pond along an old railroad bed. Our luck changed dramatically when a handsome barred owl flushed in front of us and landed overhead affording us fabulous looks from all angles. Along with some pine warblers and white-breasted nuthatches, our first black-and-white warbler of the season made an appearance. As we proceeded toward Wildcat Pond, I suggested tongue-in-cheek that we approach stealthily so as not to spook an American bittern. Evidently we were not stealthy enough, as one soon flushed and circled around the pond so that we could admire his field marks in flight. After returning to the parking lot, with the entrance gate now open, we drove to the far end of the park and walked to Picture Pond where yellow rumps, palm warblers, and blue-grey gnatcatchers were cavorting in the treetops. Continuing on to Boundary Pond we admired two pairs of wood ducks swimming at pond's edge. As we approached the gate leading to Holly Pond, a winter wren tantalized us with his vigorous song, but we were unable to get a visual on it. A turkey vulture overhead was the consolation prize as our second (much less exciting) raptor of the day.
6 Canada Goose
Eight birders set out in a just-ending rain shower with temperatures hovering below 50 degrees to find what the latest migration had to offer. Bird calls were infrequent and sightings even less so for the first leg of our journey toward Wildcat Pond along an old railroad bed. Our luck changed dramatically when a handsome barred owl flushed in front of us and landed overhead affording us fabulous looks from all angles. Along with some pine warblers and white-breasted nuthatches, our first black-and-white warbler of the season made an appearance. As we proceeded toward Wildcat Pond, I suggested tongue-in-cheek that we approach stealthily so as not to spook an American bittern. Evidently we were not stealthy enough, as one soon flushed and circled around the pond so that we could admire his field marks in flight. After returning to the parking lot, with the entrance gate now open, we drove to the far end of the park and walked to Picture Pond where yellow rumps, palm warblers, and blue-grey gnatcatchers were cavorting in the treetops. Continuing on to Boundary Pond we admired two pairs of wood ducks swimming at pond's edge. As we approached the gate leading to Holly Pond, a winter wren tantalized us with his vigorous song, but we were unable to get a visual on it. A turkey vulture overhead was the consolation prize as our second (much less exciting) raptor of the day.
4 Wood Duck
1 AMERICAN BITTERN
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Herring Gull
1 Mourning Dove
1 Barred Owl
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
3 Downy Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
9 Eastern Phoebe
2 Blue Jay
1 American Crow
3 Tree Swallow
3 Barn Swallow
7 Black-capped Chickadee
6 Tufted Titmouse
5 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 Winter Wren
2 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
6 American Robin
1 Northern Mockingbird
3 Black-and-white Warbler
4 Palm Warbler
9 Pine Warbler
6 Yellow-rumped Warbler
2 Eastern Towhee
6 Chipping Sparrow
2 Song Sparrow
3 Northern Cardinal
2 Common Grackle
11Brown-headed Cowbird
2 American Goldfinch
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