Bird Walk

I read in the newspaper that there would be a walk for birdwatchers this Saturday morning.

I woke up at 5:30.  It was going to be a beautiful day for it!

I drove to the museum where we were gathering.

There were enough people to form 2 groups.  

One group took off to the north and my group went east.

The trail is 1/5 miles long and is just north of the college.

I really do like this trail!

 Even before we were out of the parking lot of the museum, our guide was hearing bird calls and telling us which birds were making the calls.

The birds would be so high but our guide could easily tell them by their shape and by their call.

We heard a starling imitating the sound of the western meadowlark.

I'm a novice.  So I have a lot to learn.  There were some in our group who were even more "novicer" than me, but it was so fun to learn together!

 Here are some pictures that I cropped to be able to see the birds.

 I was the only one with a camera.  I don't know that it did much good to bring a camera along.  They are so hard to catch!


They flit and fly so quickly.  Couldn't get it in focus soon enough!

 As the trees leaf out more, they will be almost impossible to see.

 

 We were supposed to keep any talking to the minimum.

I'll have to come back some time and explore this path that we didn't take.

Home of a wood duck

We met the other group coming from the other way.

When asked what bird had this nest, we were told that this was a squirrel nest.

He said that nests made of twigs and leaves are generally squirrel nests.

Hmmm.  I thought they lived in holes in the trees.

Our guide heard 27 different species and we saw a few of them. 

Here is the list of what he wrote down.
Mallard  1
Blue-winged Teal  12
Double-crested Cormorant  4 (flew over just before the walk started)
Turkey Vulture  4
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Killdeer  2
Eurasian Collared-Dove  2
Mourning Dove  4
Red-bellied Woodpecker  11
Downy Woodpecker  3
Blue Jay  4
American Crow  2
Purple Martin  4
Black-capped Chickadee  9
Tufted Titmouse  2
Carolina Wren  2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
American Robin  22
Brown Thrasher  1
European Starling  23
Louisiana Waterthrush  1
Chipping Sparrow  1
Harris's Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  18
Red-winged Blackbird  3
Common Grackle  5
House Finch  2

It was probably more a bird - listening walk than a bird - watching walk!  Ha!

I learned several knew things, like that the brown thrasher mimics calls by 2 repeated sounds whereas a mocking bird repeats it 10 times in a row.

When we got back to the museum, we saw a display of various birds' nests.

 and were served drinks and birds nests treats!