May 7, 2006 [LINK]
ABC field trip on Bell's Lane
I joined Allen Larner, Jo King, Marietta Beveridge, and Stephan Petrovsky on a birding venture around the nearby Bell's Lane area this beautiful morning. It was slow going at first, but turned out to be a very worthwhile trip, as I saw ten birds for the first time this season. Three of them were very unusual: A Bobolink, a Red-headed woodpecker, and a Blue grosbeak. Here are the highlights of what I saw, excluding the everyday birds, in rough chronological order:
ABOVE: Six baby bluebirds in a nest box. Click on this image to see a Red-winged blackbird nest with one egg.
BELOW: A first-year male Orchard oriole. Click on this image to see a Columbine flower.
- Wilson's warbler (FOS)
- Brown thrashers
- Killdeer
- "Peep" sandpiper
- Bluebirds (M, F, babies)
- Downy woodpecker
- White-crowned sparrow
- Meadowlarks
- House wren
- Baltimore oriole (FOS)
- E. towhee
- Cowbird (F)
- Field sparrow
- Savannah sparrows (FOS)
- Indigo buntings
- Goldfinches (M, F)
- Yellow warblers (M)
- Yellow-rumped warblers
- Kingbirds (FOS)
- Orchard orioles (FOS)
- White-breasted nuthatch
- N. rough-winged swallows
- Barn swallows
- Tree swallows
- Green heron
- Ruddy ducks (M, F)
- Purple martin (FOS)
- Red-headed woodpecker (FOS) !!
- Bobolink (M, FOS) !!
- Red-tailed hawks
- Spotted sandpiper (FOS)
- E. phoebe
- Red-eyed vireo
- Blue grosbeak (F, FOS) !!
UPDATE: A female Ruby-throated hummingbird showed up at our nectar feeder while it was raining late this afternoon. It's the first time I've seen one there since April 25.