31 Cool Bird Facts #20 – Wood Duck
October 20, 2008
Article in: Birding
Wood Ducks [Aix sponsa] are colorful ducks of the woods (no kidding!). They easily can be considered the most beautiful of all the waterfowl but it is what their nestlings do that is most attention-grabbing.
The Wood Duck nests in trees near water, sometimes directly over water, but other times up to 2 km (1.2 mi) away. After hatching, the ducklings jump down from the nest tree and make their way to water. The mother calls them to her, but does not help them in any way. The ducklings may jump from heights of up to 89 m (290 ft) without injury. – Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds
Deer Run Bird Survey #8
April 22, 2008
Article in: Bird Conservation
Our eighth Deer Run Bird Survey of our year long survey was the best we’ve had yet. The weather was wonderful and we had our highest count of species thus far. This should be topped as migration really hits, but we’re happy with what we saw Sunday. Technically, DRBS #7.5 happened on the 6th of April but was done by local birder (and great friend) Tim Young. He added three new species for the count: American Coot, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, & Golden-crowned Kinglet.
D.R.B.S. #8 started off with a bang as we netted Brown Thrasher and Eastern Towhee (new for the count).
Brown Thrasher
We counted 330 individual birds of 39 species and added five new ones for the survey:
- Rusty Blackbird
- House Wren
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Eastern Towhee
- Brown Thrasher
Our total for the survey now stands at 2,948 individuals of 62 species.
Wood Duck
Hermit Thrush – never get tired of these!
Read more about what we are doing with our Deer Run Bird Survey.
