The Stroud Preserve, 5 February 2013

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I had another somewhat late start today. Nonetheless, it wasn’t quiet as birdless at it was yesterday. I did end up with a fairly high species count for this time of year with 40 total. The highlight for me today was watching an endless stream of juncos spill out of a tree and onto the ground to feed. What was particularly interesting about this feeding flock, was immediately adjacent to it (about 30 feet away) was a feeding flock of White-throated Sparrows with about the same number of individuals. The juncos feed further out in the open than the white-throats, which stayed closer to the brush. There was very little intermingling going on between the two. The ground was just alive with small critters.

With no wind at all, the preserve was very quiet. I listened hard for distant chipping of winter finches such as crossbills and redpolls, but to no avail. I’ll keep looking!

Start time: 9:45

End time: 12:30

Temp: 27-30°

Wind: none

Skies: overcast

Species Total: 40

  • Great Blue Heron – 2
  • Black Vulture – 7
  • Turkey Vulture – 3
  • Canada Goose – approximately 500
  • American Black Duck – 2
  • Mallard – 2
  • Common Merganser – 2
  • Bald Eagle – 2 adults
  • Sharp-shinned Hawk – 2 immature
  • Red-tailed Hawk – 4 adults
  • Great Horned Owl – 1, the female on the nest still
  • Belted Kingfisher – 1, heard only
  • Red-bellied Woodpecker – approximately 10
  • Downy Woodpecker – approximately 20
  • Hairy Woodpecker – 2
  • Northern Flicker – 1, heard only
  • Blue Jay – approximately 15
  • American Crow – approximately 50
  • Fish Crow – 1
  • Carolina Chickadee – approximately 20
  • Tufted Titmouse – approximately 20
  • Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
  • White-breasted Nuthatch – approximately 25, they seemed to be everywhere today.
  • Carolina Wren – approximately 10
  • Golden-crowned Kinglet – 2
  • Eastern Bluebird – approximately 20
  • American Robin – 1
  • Northern Mockingbird – 1
  • European Starling – approximately 50
  • Eastern Towhee – 2, heard only
  • American Tree Sparrow – 1
  • Savannah Sparrow – 2
  • Fox Sparrow – 1
  • Song Sparrow – approximately 100
  • Swamp Sparrow – 2
  • White-throated Sparrow – approximately 300
  • Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 300. Bird of the day! I watched about 250 spill out of one group of trees in the large field on the northwest side of the preserve. The feed on the ground until a Sharp-shinned Hawk buzzed through. The sharpie came up empty handed. You would think with that many targets it would have ended up with something!
  • Northern Cardinal – approximately 20
  • House Finch – 2
  • American Goldfinch – 2