Crestwood Village 10/23--Northern Parula

Here's a surprise: a Northern Parula in a tree on a front lawn along Sunset Road. One of the great things about birding is that there is always the possibility of something interesting showing up, something you weren't expecting. A Northern Parula isn't a rare bird, though it is getting late for warblers aside from yellow-rumps, but finding one along a suburban street when I've been walking in the woods for two months looking for birds, does seem odd.

Almost as odd as the residents along Sunset find me, walking along with my binoculars, peering into their trees, checking out their feeders. Some are interested in what I'm doing: last week I made an old guy happy when I confirmed for him that those were indeed Pine Siskins at his feeder. Others are suspicious and make snide comments as I walk along. I could, I suppose, engage them and describe what I'm seeing, point out the alternate universe that exists all around them, but I don't because I have a strict rule: No Stupid People.

Sometimes I walk through the development instead of in the WMA because I don't feel like dealing with the woods with its bugs, sand, and hunters, and also because there is a neat little pond on Stonybrook that has at times yielded some real surprises, including a Green Heron a couple of times this month. It is a squalid little body of water, hemmed in by a hurricane fence, part of the drainage system, I suppose, but often these neglected spots with their tangles and overgrown shrubs, are perfect habitat for birds. Today, while there was no heron, I did find Song Sparrow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and nearby, my second Yellow-bellied Sapsucker of the walk. 

So what started out as a quick walk to check out the pond, turned into a two-hour, 4+ mile hike, turning up 20 species and some vicious glares. 

Mourning Dove  5
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1    Heard
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  2
Eastern Phoebe  1    Pond on Stonybrook
Blue Jay  1
Carolina Chickadee  25
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1    Heard
White-breasted Nuthatch  3    Heard
Brown Creeper  1
Carolina Wren  2    Heard
Golden-crowned Kinglet  1    Pond on Stonybrook
American Robin  15
Northern Parula  1    1st year female
Palm Warbler  1    Pond on Stonybrook
Yellow-rumped Warbler  6
Chipping Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  1    Pond on Stonybrook
White-throated Sparrow  5
Dark-eyed Junco  15
Northern Cardinal  2