While Eddie (the main Birdfreak) is busy planning a wedding and Jennie and Dakota are attending the Biggest Week in American Birding, Susie and Dad took charge of the Spring Bird Count for the Birdfreak Team.
Susie recaps…
Bird counts are always intensive, fast, fun birding, and you can almost always count on unseasonably cold weather, along with rain.
We started our day at 6 am, and the rain arrived right on schedule. The weather started out cool and rainy, but within the first hour, it had cleared up, and we had sunshine the rest of the day. We hiked a few of the trails at Kieselberg Forest Preserve, and racked up a pretty decent list, including: numerous Yellow-rumped Warblers, a few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, four American Redstarts, three Eastern Towhees, a Brown Thrasher, a Wood Thrush, and very large numbers of Field Sparrows, American Robins, Blue Jays, and more. All in all, a total of close to 40 species.
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
After leaving Kieselberg, we investigated a few residential neighborhoods (feeling a little Peeping Tom-ish), and picked up a few new species. One interesting sighting was the Wild Turkey we spotted hanging out on the immaculate front lawn of a luxurious home.
We visited a small neighborhood park and walked along the river where we counted various swallows, Baltimore Orioles, Killdeer, a Solitary Sandpiper, and the sole House Sparrow of the count (perched on a goal post in a soccer field).
We wrapped up the day around 3 o’clock. Our total number of unique species was 46, and the total number of birds counted was over 500.
Killdeer
A lot of birds!
There is now a guinea fowl running around in Keisselberg Forest Preserve. We saw it a couple of days ago, hope is survives.