Photo: Black-crowned night heron by Derrick Johnson
Hello everyone,
We have fledglings! A cute little Starling was outside the Japanese Garden, walking right up to people to say hello. We saw a male Baltimore Oriole feeding a little one and a young, scruffy Yellow Warbler was spotted near the soccer field. It was so cute! A mama Wood Duck was leading her six ducklings around the lagoons.
Our House Wrens who have taken up residence in light fixture number 40 are still building a nest. We saw one bird carry a long piece of grass into the base of the bulb, and then we watched as the grass was slowly pulled into the light fixture.
It was quite a day for Great Blue Herons. We had six fly over and then we found 10 more perched in various spots around the park. Our Black-crowned Night Heron was at its usual spot in the Japanese Garden and we had a nice number of Green Herons too. We had two Great Egrets too, one of whom perched at the top of a dead tree and we got a view of it with the construction cranes behind it – an interesting view. See Gary’s great photo.
The surprise bird of the day was, of course, found by Tracy. She is our rare bird finder extraordinaire. She spotted a Snowy Egret on the shore of the east lagoon and has a picture to prove it. What a great find!
BIRDERS: Kristin, Lucy, Marian, Cheryl, Mike M., Jennie, Leslie, Eric, Gary, Kevin, Mike, Peter, Tracy, Marisa and welcome to Rebecca, Steve, Gavin, Vince, Fiona and Dave who was visiting from Nebraska
TIME: 8:00am to 12:00pm
WEATHER: cloudy, becoming sunny, low 70s
Compiler: Cheryl
Photographers: Marisa, Eric, Gary and Tracy, but the photo of the Snowy Egret is a picture of Tracy’s camera, just to prove that we really saw a Snowy Egret!
Canada Goose Number observed: 83
Wood Duck Number observed: 10
Mallard Number observed: 7
Chimney Swift Number observed: 4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Number observed: 1
Killdeer Number observed: 1
Ring-billed Gull Number observed: 5
Caspian Tern Number observed: 1
Great Blue Heron Number observed: 16
Great Egret Number observed: 2
Snowy Egret Number observed: 1
Green Heron Number observed: 4
Black-crowned Night-Heron Number observed: 2
Turkey Vulture Number observed: 3
Cooper's Hawk Number observed: 1
Downy Woodpecker Number observed: 1
Northern Flicker Number observed: 3
Eastern Kingbird Number observed: 5
Warbling Vireo Number observed: 1
American Crow Number observed: 7
Black-capped Chickadee Number observed: 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Number observed: 6
Purple Martin Number observed: 2
Tree Swallow Number observed: 2
Barn Swallow Number observed: 20
Cliff Swallow Number observed: 140
White-breasted Nuthatch Number observed: 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Number observed: 3
House Wren Number observed: 3
European Starling Number observed: 26
Gray Catbird Number observed: 2
American Robin Number observed: 6
Cedar Waxwing Number observed: 3
House Sparrow Number observed: 7
House Finch Number observed: 2
American Goldfinch Number observed: 4
Song Sparrow Number observed: 3
Orchard Oriole Number observed: 3
Baltimore Oriole Number observed: 5
Red-winged Blackbird Number observed: 12
Brown-headed Cowbird Number observed: 1
Yellow Warbler Number observed: 5
Northern Cardinal Number observed: 3
Indigo Bunting Number observed: 1
If you’d like more information about a bird, check out the All About Birds ID guide:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/
Corrections, additions and comments are welcome.
Good birding everyone,
Jennie