The Stroud Preserve, 7 February 2013
/It was an average day on the preserve. The bird of the day was a Brown Creeper that I got to watch at pretty close range. It worked the side of a walnut tree probing the cracks and crevices for little bugs. I was close enough to see fairly clearly that it was good at what it does! I saw it turn its head and take a close look at the barks surface, then probe it’s bill into a crack and pull out an insect. A nice skill to have with the temperature is a few degrees below freezing when no insects would be active.
Brown Creepers have always been a favorite bird of mine and sadly it is not a bird I see around here very often. Back in Washington State it was a common resident on many of my study sites. While it was never one of the species that I studied specifically, I would occasionally catch one in my mist nest. If you have never seen one of these little guys up close you are missing something! Check out photos of one that I caught back in 2003 here.
Start time: 9:30
End time: 12:30
Temp: 27-32°
Wind: none to slight from the east
Skies: overcast
Species Total: 36
- Great Blue Heron – 1
- Black Vulture – approximately 10
- Turkey Vulture – approximately 25
- Canada Goose – approximately 40
- Mallard – 13
- Common Merganser – 3
- Bald Eagle – 3, 2 adults, 1 unknown (brief look in silhouette)
- Sharp-shinned Hawk – 2
- Red-tailed Hawk – 7, 5 adults, 2 immatures
- Great Horned Owl – 1, on the nest as usual
- Belted Kingfisher – 1
- Red-bellied Woodpecker – approximately 8
- Downy Woodpecker – approximately 10
- Hairy Woodpecker – 2
- Northern Flicker – 1, heard only
- Blue Jay – approximately 10
- American Crow – approximately 50
- Fish Crow – 1
- Carolina Chickadee – approximately 15
- Tufted Titmouse – approximately 10
- White-breasted Nuthatch – approximately 10
- Brown Creeper – 1, Bird of the day!
- Carolina Wren – approximately 10
- Eastern Bluebird – approximately 15
- Northern Mockingbird – 3
- European Starling – approximately 25
- Eastern Towhee – 2
- Fox Sparrow – 2
- Song Sparrow – approximately 20
- White-throated Sparrow – approximately 140
- Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 20
- Northern Cardinal – approximately 15
- Common Grackle – 2
- House Finch – 1, heard only
- American Goldfinch – 1, heard only