Saturday, May 16, 2020

Mud Lake

May 16, 2020

We thought it was time to check out Mud Lake.  But first we wanted to check out the ravens at the corner of Greenbank and Baseline.  We found four very active young ravens about ready to fledge.


From there, we proceeded to Mud Lake to find crowds like we have never seen before.  We snapped a few photos of the Wood Ducks and a female Red-winged Blackbird. At the spruce tree on the lawn across from the Filtration Plant, there were a dozen photographers set up; take a ticket and wait your turn.  The tree was full of Yellow-rumped Warblers and we saw at least one Palm Warbler.  Honestly, there could have been other species there, but the whole situation was unreal.






Another group was at the tree behind on a Baltimore Oriole.


We went down to the river and saw some goslings, many more yellow-rumps and a Cedar Waxwing.




We hiked the ridge, but did not get much, although another guy said there was a Backburnian.


Bill suggested they take the trail that parallels the road, to get away from the crowds.  It worked. We heard some singing and briefly spotted an American Redstart (no photo) and a Yellow Warbler.


It got quiet on the trail, but we did see a nice Gray Catbird, some Song Sparrows and a Great Blue Heron fly past.




We went back out o the road, where we checked out the turtles and singing Warbling Vireos.




WE could not resist another look at the popular field.  We snapped some shots of a Downy Woodpecker and the Wood Ducks.




The crowds had thinned somewhat, but the Yellow-rumps were still there along with a Common Yellowhtroat.




Birding in such a large crowd is not fun during a COVID-19 pandemic!

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