Photo: Red-headed woodpecker by Gary Robinette

Hello Fellow Bird Lovers, 

Cheryl here filling in for Jennie. It was a wet blustery morning but 9 of us braved the elements to look for birds on the Wooded Island. I am not sure of the significance, but there were more wet and cold birders than Mallards out there. Some very experienced birders have taught or brainwashed me into believing that the best birding is in the rain. This theory may be correct as we managed to spot 33 species. Most of the birds stayed low because of the strong wind gusts and only the larger birds took to the air. Because of the strong winds and rains, we opted to not go into Bobolink Meadow and went back north on the outer path once we reached the South Bridge. We still walked the Island for more than 2½ hours in poor conditions and not one person left. Kudos to all who came out with me this morning.

While we still saw a few lingering Warblers and White-throated Sparrows,  the bird of the week was definitely the American Robin. They were out in full force. We have not been seeing too many lately and some weeks we have only sighted 1 or 2. We spotted at least 70 if not more. The American Robin obviously loves the rain. There will still many Great Blue Herons and a couple Great Egrets but sadly, we did not spot any Black-Crowned Night Herons. Mark C. had spotted a juvenile on the previous Thursday, so perhaps it was just hunkered down. A beautiful Tennessee Warbler was seemingly oblivious to our presence on the outer path and posed for us many times. We had the same thing occur the week before with a Tennessee on the inner path so who knows if the same bird stuck around. 

If you have not signed the petition that Jennie sent out previously regarding protecting our migrating birds, please do so. They need our help. 

BIRDERS: Cheryl, Mark C., Roger, Paul and his visiting friend Tom, Lucy, Nathan, Kristin and Roselle

TIME: 8:00am to 10:45am               

WEATHER: 52°F, Rainy with moderate to strong winds from the NE

Compiler: Cheryl

No pictures this week due to the weather.

1. Canada Goose   Number observed: 75

2. Mallard   Number observed: 6

3. Chimney Swift   Number observed: 6

4. Ring-billed Gull   Number observed: 13

5. Double-crested Cormorant   Number observed: 2

6. Great Blue Heron   Number observed: 5

7. Great Egret   Number observed: 2

8. Belted Kingfisher   Number observed: 1

9. Red-bellied Woodpecker   Number observed: 1

10. Downy Woodpecker   Number observed: 2

11. Northern Flicker   Number observed: 2

12. American Crow   Number observed: 8

13. Black-capped Chickadee   Number observed: 4

14. Ruby-crowned Kinglet   Number observed: 3

15. Golden-crowned Kinglet   Number observed: 2

16. European Starling   Number observed: 50

17. Gray Catbird   Number observed: 4

18. Brown Thrasher   Number observed: 1

19. Swainson's Thrush   Number observed: 1

20. Hermit Thrush   Number observed: 3

21. Catharus sp.   Number observed: 1

22. American Robin   Number observed: 70

23. Cedar Waxwing   Number observed: 4

24. American Goldfinch   Number observed: 3

25. White-crowned Sparrow   Number observed: 2

26. White-throated Sparrow   Number observed: 24

27. Eastern Towhee   Number observed: 2

28. Ovenbird   Number observed: 1

29. Northern Waterthrush   Number observed: 1

30. Tennessee Warbler   Number observed: 1

31. Cape May Warbler   Number observed: 1

32. Magnolia Warbler  Number observed: 1

33. Yellow-rumped Warbler   Number observed: 6

34. Northern Cardinal   Number observed: 3

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.

The best of birding to all. Jennie will be back next week. 

Cheryl