Colliers Mills 3/28--Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

It was with little enthusiasm that I started my walk at Colliers Mills this morning. With the temperature below freezing and the wind chill well into the teens, I can dress my body for a Spring cold snap, but I can't get my psyche warm. With the wind a snappy 20 mph gusting to perhaps 30, I opted to start my walk in the woods. My reasoning was that I'd stay somewhat out of the wind and that there weren't going to be any birds in the fields in any case. 

I hadn't gotten far up Hawkin Road, having checked the boat launch area at Turnmill Pond to find zero waterfowl on it, when I heard a high, buzzy call. I looked up to see a Golden-crowned Kinglet, but the bird and the call combo didn't sit right with me. Across the road I saw more flitting and when the bird finally stopped for a moment, I saw a big white eye ring. Ruby-crowned Kinglet was dismissed before my mind could get past "King," and then the "tzee tzee" made sense when I saw that I had an unexpected year bird with a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Can't find the birds that are supposed to be there, Red-headed Woodpecker or kestrel, but I get my earliest NJ gnatcatcher instead. 

If I wasn't determined to walk my four miles, I could have turned around and gone home, because the rest of the trek was uneventful. The ponds had little to nothing in them, the woods, after that spot were fairly quiet, and the fields, of course, were barren except for juncos. I don't know why 24 degrees feels a lot colder in March than it does in January, but it does and once I was done walking, I was done for the day. I considered 27 species pretty good given the conditions and my mood. 

Canada Goose  24
Mallard  5     Pond on Hawkin
Ring-necked Duck  1     Colliers Mills Lake
Mourning Dove  3
Great Blue Heron  5
Turkey Vulture  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Northern Flicker  8
Eastern Phoebe  1
Blue Jay  1     Heard
Carolina Chickadee  1

Tufted Titmouse  1

Golden-crowned Kinglet

White-breasted Nuthatch  3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1     
Carolina Wren  2     Heard
European Starling  2
Eastern Bluebird  1     Heard
American Robin  25
Field Sparrow  2
Dark-eyed Junco  15
Song Sparrow  2
Red-winged Blackbird  10
Brown-headed Cowbird  4
Pine Warbler  10     Heard
Northern Cardinal  3

Yeah, the weather pissed me off, too.