We did something this morning @ Brig that I've always wanted to do--took a long walk around the refuge on the trails away from the Wildlife Drive. Friends of Forsythe give an early morning walk every Saturday that has two big advantages over just doing it yourself: Excellent local birders who know the turf and a leader who has permission to walk trails that are normally off-limits. The weather was cool and breezy so bugs were not a problem. No matter how slowly you go in your car, you can't beat walking for finding passerines.
Starting out on the boardwalk of the Leeds Eco-trail we got naked eye close up looks of a couple of Marsh Wrens--I doubt I've ever seen them so near or for such extended views. Brown Thrashers (a bird I always feel lucky to see) were flying along the tree line across the marsh and when we walked the gravel part of the trail, we found an immature Blue Grosbeak sitting plainly in view in a bare tree. We also managed 3 species of warblers there--Yellow, Pine and American Redstart. A low flying adult Bald Eagle was a treat. I never really get tired of Bald Eagles (unless I'm in Alaska where they replace pigeons).
Along the road to the Gull Pond Tower we found more warblers, both races (Western & Yellow) of Palm Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, a small flock of Yellow-rumps as well as my personal favorite passerine, Cedar Waxwings.
The real fun began when we walked along the dike from the Gull Tower that is usually verboten to pedestrians. It was there that we flushed an American Bittern out of the marsh and watched it fly off for a good long while--usually they dive down pretty quickly. We were seeing parts of the refuge that are normally hidden, including the weather station they have out at the end of the dike. Making a left we walked along a path that looked recently mowed and emerged out on the road past Jen's Trail. When you drive along this part of the road it is very hard to see birds unless you park out of the way and walk a bit--something we rarely do. But moseying along we found plenty of birds--Red-eyed Vireos were called out from every direction and we also had Black-and White Warblers, plus more redstarts. Shari had a Northern Parula, but I missed that one. So, 8 warbler species, which is not bad for Brig and the group tallied 63 species walking around, out of which I managed 50. It was a 4 mile walk so we got our exercise in--I admit to often feeling guilty about not walking on the days we bird Brig.
We zipped off to a decent restaurant we know for lunch and returned to do a circuit of the Wildlife Drive. About 1/3 of the way around we found Mike, Pete, Scott and Linda behind us--they had been leading a donor trip in the morning and were now doing their second trip. We drove around with them and since great birders attract great birds, it seems, we got some unusual birds. On their first trip they had seen a dozen Hudsonian Godwits so we were looking for them. A couple of birders had one "Hudwit" in here scope on the north dike, but she mentioned that she'd seen a Buff-breasted Sandpiper at the dogleg--about 1/2 mile behind us on the one-way drive. "Gee, missed it," I thought.
Not with that gang. Mike proceeded to back up the road and Shari took over the wheel and followed him. There was no way my driving skills were going to get us there. The last time I backed up that far was 20 years ago, getting on the freight boat to Martha's Vineyard and I had lots of crewmen directing me, patiently. I got vaguely car sick watching the scenery recede. It reminded me of being stuck in one of the wrong-facing seats on a commuter train. But we got there with no one in the marsh or channel and once Scott found the bird and gave us a landmark there were 4 "I got its" in quick succession. It is getting a little late for a buffy to still be around if it's going to make it to the southern end of South America. The Peregrine Falcon flying above was also an ominous sign.
When we continued our tour going in the right direction the godwit, along with most of the other shorebirds, was gone, no doubt due to the falcon, and the final cool bird we found was a Tri-colored Heron that Pete picked out on an island of egrets. As I said to Linda, as we were hanging out on the upland part of the trail toward the end of the trip, "There are worse ways to spend the day."
For the great day I had 71 species. The lists:
Leed's Eco-trail, Cross-dike, Upland Section of Road
50 Species
Canada Goose 10
Wood Duck 9
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 2
Double-crested Cormorant 100
American Bittern 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 10
Little Blue Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 5
Osprey 1
Northern Harrier 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 1
Laughing Gull 100
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 20
Mourning Dove 1
Belted Kingfisher 1 Heard
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3 Heard
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 3
Tree Swallow 15
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 1
House Wren 1
Marsh Wren 2
Carolina Wren 3 Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Gray Catbird 5
Brown Thrasher 2
European Starling 25
Cedar Waxwing 5
Black-and-white Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 1
American Redstart 3
Yellow Warbler 3
Palm Warbler (Western) 2
Palm Warbler (Yellow) 3
Pine Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 2
Blue Grosbeak 1 Leed's Eco Trail
American Goldfinch 5
Wildlife Drive
39 species (+2 other taxa)
Canada Goose 75
Mute Swan 7
American Black Duck 10
Mallard 15
Blue-winged Teal 2 Exit pond
Northern Pintail 1 South dike
Double-crested Cormorant 75
Great Blue Heron 10
Great Egret 70
Snowy Egret 20
Little Blue Heron 2
Tricolored Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 9
Osprey 1
Northern Harrier 1
Black-bellied Plover 50
Semipalmated Plover 3
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Willet (Western) 1
Hudsonian Godwit 1
Dunlin 4
Buff-breasted Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 9
Western Sandpiper 1
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher 200 Large distant flock of dowitchers
Laughing Gull 100
Herring Gull (American) 20
Great Black-backed Gull 2
Caspian Tern 1
Forster's Tern 100
Belted Kingfisher 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Blue Jay 1 Heard
crow sp. 3
Tree Swallow 5
Carolina Chickadee 1 Heard
Carolina Wren 1 Heard
European Starling 20
Eastern Towhee 1 Heard
Seaside Sparrow 2
Boat-tailed Grackle 5
No comments:
Post a Comment