In contrast to yesterday in which the skies had virtually no birds flying in it, today the skies were filled with birds. The first bird of the day was an adult Bald Eagle flying over the parking lot. Then a few minutes later a small group of Herring Gull flew over. Shortly after that I heard the very familiar sound of Horned Lark flight calls. I was easily able to find a small group of 5 larks flying overhead (finding larks on the wing is not always easy to do!). Later in the day I heard larks again. This time the flock numbered at least 10. And Shortly after than I heard the flight call of an American Pipit, then 9 more gulls, a flyby American Kestrel, several groups of highflying geese, another eagle, an so on. So, as you can see, I got a pretty good workout with birds on the wing today. The (grainy) photo above is part of the "herd" of American Crows that frequent the perserve.
Stat time: 8:50
End time: 11:30
Temp: 41-46
Wind: slight to brisk from the Northwest
Skies: partly cloudy
Species Total: 38
Black Vulture – approximately 75
Turkey Vulture – approximately 75
Canada Goose – approximately 400, only 75 or so were close to the ground. The others were flying high over the preserve heading elsewhere.
Bald Eagle – 2, 1 adult and 1 immature
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 1, immature
Cooper's Hawk – 1, immature
Red-tailed Hawk – 7, 6 adults and 1 immature
American Kestrel – 1, male
Herring Gull – 14, one group of 5 then another group of 9 flying overhead. I don’t see these very often in the preserve. However, you can go two miles to the east and easily find them in their more usual habitat of a McDonalds parking lot.
Mourning Dove – approximately 40
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 4
Downy Woodpecker – approximately 15
Hairy Woodpecker – 2
Blue Jay – approximately 10
American Crow – approximately 500
Horned Lark – approximately 15! Bird of the Day! Two groups flying overhead, one with 5 birds and the other with approximately 10.
Carolina Chickadee – approximately 15
Tufted Titmouse – approximately 10
White-breasted Nuthatch – 3
Brown Creeper – 1
Carolina Wren – approximately 5
Winter Wren – 1, heard only
Eastern Bluebird – approximately 25
American Robin – approximately 35
Northern Mockingbird – 7
European Starling – approximately 20
American Pipit – 1, flying overhead.
Field Sparrow – 3
Song Sparrow – approximately 150
Swamp Sparrow – 1
White-throated Sparrow – approximately 100
White-crowned Sparrow – 1, immature
Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 100
Northern Cardinal – approximately 25
Red-winged Blackbird – approximately 50
Common Grackle – approximately 1000
House Finch – approximately 20
American Goldfinch – approximately 20
