Colliers Mills 4/20--Common Yellowthroat

WMAs are still open and yet, despite the huge acreage in Colliers Mills, my ideal formula for social distancing

SD=me + 0

was thwarted by a one guy walking a very large and especially unfriendly dog. He was considerate enough to put it back on its leash, which may have made the dog more unfriendly. It made my route around Turnmill Pond peculiar in that I circled it one and half times, walking the same stretch of Hawkin Road 3 times in order to avoid him and growling beast. 

This is about the time of year I can start finding new birds in Colliers Mills in quantities to compensate for the long stretches of non-interest, but today I was only able to hear one new one, a persistent but hidden Common Yellowthroat at the north end of Turnmill Pond, deep in the phrags. It happens like that to me often with yellowthroats. I'll keep hearing them in various spots but it might be a month before I actually see one. 

But in my perambulations I did find some favorite birds, birds I always like to see. On the little pond up Hawkin Road I found a pair of Wood Ducks; it's a good spot for them to nest. Walking in the woods to the east of the Police Shooting Range (where they are still shooting) I once again was able to track down a Red-headed Woodpecker. I heard something in the woods, and while it wasn't any of the calls I have on my phone app, I knew from the scrabbling chattering that it was a Red-head and a few minutes tramping toward the sound led me to the bird as if flew from one tree to the other. Either these birds are moving around from that spot to the woods north of Success Road or there are 

more than a couple of birds there. I vote for the latter. 

Another point of interest--with the Red-headed Woodpecker, I had a 5 woodpecker day at Colliers Mills. As to warblers, the Yellow-rumped Warblers are beautiful now in full breeding plumage, I came across one Palm Warbler, and of course, Pine Warblers are around and singing and sometimes I can even tell them apart from Chipping Sparrows. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers seemed to buzzing everywhere. Ring-necked Ducks were still hanging in there at Turnmill. I'm surprised they're not flagged as "rare" yet. 

I took no pictures. 

36 species

Canada Goose  5

Wood Duck  2    Pond on Hawkin

Mallard  1    Pond on Hawkin

Ring-necked Duck  12

Mourning Dove  1

Great Blue Heron  1

Turkey Vulture  6

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Belted Kingfisher  1

Red-headed Woodpecker  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2

Downy Woodpecker  1

Hairy Woodpecker  1    Near parking lot

Northern Flicker  2

Blue Jay  5

Fish Crow  2

Carolina Chickadee  2    heard

Tree Swallow  1

Ruby-crowned Kinglet  3

White-breasted Nuthatch  2    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  8

Carolina Wren  1

European Starling  25

Hermit Thrush  1    Raising its rufous tail on Hawkin

American Robin  50

American Goldfinch  1    Heard

Chipping Sparrow  2

Field Sparrow  2    Heard

White-throated Sparrow  5

Eastern Towhee  2    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  10

Common Yellowthroat  1    Heard

Palm Warbler  1

Pine Warbler  2

Yellow-rumped Warbler  2

Northern Cardinal  5