The Stroud Preserve, 25 January 2013

/
IMG_2502.jpg

Today’s walk, like every other walk this week was cold. However, the wind was not blowing at all, so it was a pretty enjoyable walk. My first impression starting out was that it was going to be a really slow day because the landscape as such a dead silence to it. Nonetheless, it wasn’t that bad. The birds mostly occurred in bunches. I would walk for 5 or 10 minutes and not see very much at all, then all of the sudden the ground would be crawling with sparrows. Most of which were White-throated. The old pond bed was pretty active with sparrows as well.

Last spring I found a pair of Red-tailed Hawks with a nest in a large tree on the north side of the preserve near the high tension power lines. I thought  to myself when I saw “that will probably be were I’ll get a Great Horned Owl. All winter when I walk past it I have checked to see if I could see a Great Horned peeking over the side. Today when I looked up I did indeed see a pair of eyes looking back at me! My guess is that this is a female on eggs. I is kind of hard to think about incubating eggs in these temperatures!

Also was interest today were 6 American Pipits that worked their way through the grass nearly at my feet. Actually, they were about 8 feet away as they were at the edge of the near focus of my binoculars. The foraged as if I were not there.

Stat time: 8:50

End time: 11:10

Temp: 16-18

Wind: none

Skies: overcast

Species Total: 32

  • Great Blue Heron – 1
  • Black Vulture – 6
  • Turkey Vulture – approximately 20
  • Canada Goose – approximately 250
  • Mallard – 10
  • Common Merganser – 6
  • Red-tailed Hawk – 4, 3 adults, 1 immature
  • Mourning Dove – approximately 12
  • Great Horned Owl – 1, Bird of the Day! A new bird for the preserve for my list!
  • Red-bellied Woodpecker – 5
  • Downy Woodpecker – approximately 12
  • Blue Jay – approximately 15
  • American Crow – approximately 100
  • Carolina Chickadee – 1
  • Tufted Titmouse – approximately 12
  • White-breasted Nuthatch – approximately 10
  • Brown Creeper – 3
  • Carolina Wren – 5
  • Golden-crowned Kinglet – 1
  • Eastern Bluebird – 4
  • Northern Mockingbird – 3
  • European Starling – approximately 12
  • American Pipit – 6
  • Eastern Towhee – 1
  • American Tree Sparrow – 5
  • Song Sparrow – approximately 75
  • Swamp Sparrow – 3
  • White-throated Sparrow – approximately 350
  • Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 20
  • Northern Cardinal – approximately 20
  • Common Grackle – 2
  • American Goldfinch – 12