September 11, 2006 [LINK / comment]

ABC in Montgomery Hall Park

I joined Allen Larner and Jo King and several other members of the Augusta Bird Club for a field trip at Montgomery Hall Park yesterday. It was mild and partly cloudy, very comfortable weather for walking around. Before we even left the parking lot, we spotted a pair of Cape May warblers in some nearby evergreen trees. Here's the list of what I saw, with conservatively estimated numbers of each species:

• Cape May warblers (3)
• Cooper's hawk (J)
• Redstarts* (15)
• Magnolia warblers (8)
• Red-bellied woodpeckers (2)
• Brown thrashers (2)
• Red-eyed vireos (10)
• Blue-gray gnatcatchers (2)
• Parulas* (3)
• Downy woodpeckers (2)
• Pewee (1)
• Baltimore oriole (1 JM)
• Black-throated green warblers (2)
• Bluebirds (3)
• Phoebe (1)
• Flicker (M)
• White-breasted nuthatch (1)
• Hooded warbler (1)
• Chestnut-sided warblers (10)
• Hummingbirds (3)
• Great crested flycatcher (1)
• Pileated woodpecker (1 M)
• Towhee (1 J)
• Broad-winged hawks (3)
• Rose-breasted grosbeak (1 prob. F/J)
• Blackpoll warblers (4)
• plus all the other usual birds

That makes eight warbler species altogether! In addition, I heard but could not quite see a White-eyed vireo in the bushes, and Allen Larner heard what he thought was a Black-billed cuckoo. Yesterday will probably go down as the peak day of the fall migration season for me, and without even leaving the city limits!