Jackson Liberty HS 2/19--Horned Lark

The best place for an impressive display of Horned Larks is in Jackson, on the soccer fields of Liberty High School.  But, since wandering school grounds with binoculars is, let us say, frowned upon by law enforcement, the only times to go there are on weekends. I was fretting a bit Sunday night, when another weekend had passed without me getting there to put the larks on the list. You tell yourself that eventually you'll get there but "eventually" has a stale date on it. Then, the little 💡 went on--"Tomorrow is Presidents' Day--no school!" At 8:30 this morning, I parked my car in the empty lot and walked across the road to the empty soccer fields, turned to my right and found a flock of 85 Horned Larks feeding on the brown grass. They blend in so perfectly with the turf and are so skittish about being approached, that I have never gotten a very good photo of the larks there. But I took a lot of distant shots of the flock to put on my eBird list, since 85 explodes the filter for a count. 

I watched the larks for 20 minutes feed and fly around (they tend to get up, fly off, and then return to where they started), and then headed over to Bunker Hill Bogs, about 5 minutes away. It is about a mile and half walk from the parking lot to Butterfly Road, through yet another former cranberry operation. The back bogs, I was hoping, would produce Wood Duck, which I still "needed" for the county. If not, Butterfly Bogs, across the street from the exit of Bunker Hill Bogs, might have them. But my first walk through didn't yield any woodies (a lot of stiff water) and Butterfly Bogs was even stiffer. However, on my return trip I flushed a drake and hen Wood Duck from the edge of the bog just before the metal bridge. And for you pickup truck drivers keeping score, I did see an eagle. In the two spots I totaled 32 species in about 3 hours of walking:

Species                First Sighting
Canada Goose   Jackson Liberty HS
Wood Duck   Bunker Hill Bogs
Mallard   Jackson Liberty HS
Ring-necked Duck   Bunker Hill Bogs
Hooded Merganser   Bunker Hill Bogs
Rock Pigeon   Jackson Liberty HS
Mourning Dove   Bunker Hill Bogs
Killdeer   Jackson Liberty HS
Herring Gull   Jackson Liberty HS
Black Vulture   Bunker Hill Bogs
Bald Eagle   Bunker Hill Bogs
Belted Kingfisher   Bunker Hill Bogs
Red-bellied Woodpecker   Jackson Liberty HS
Northern Flicker   Bunker Hill Bogs
Blue Jay   Jackson Liberty HS
American Crow   Jackson Liberty HS
Common Raven   Bunker Hill Bogs
Carolina Chickadee   Bunker Hill Bogs
Tufted Titmouse   Bunker Hill Bogs
Horned Lark   Jackson Liberty HS
White-breasted Nuthatch   Bunker Hill Bogs
Brown Creeper   Bunker Hill Bogs
Winter Wren   Bunker Hill Bogs
European Starling   Jackson Liberty HS
Eastern Bluebird   Jackson Liberty HS
American Robin   Bunker Hill Bogs
Dark-eyed Junco   Jackson Liberty HS
White-throated Sparrow   Bunker Hill Bogs
Song Sparrow   Jackson Liberty HS
Red-winged Blackbird   Bunker Hill Bogs
Yellow-rumped Warbler   Bunker Hill Bogs
Northern Cardinal   Jackson Liberty HS