Dobson Lane, Richmond & Twin Elm

 April 26, 2022

Peter told us of good birding he had had when hiking as far as possible west on Dobson Lane, so we decided to give it a try.  We parked at the corner of McBean so as to not drive through the huge potholes. When we got to the communication tower, we walked in a saw a Palm Warbler, FOS.

The road got muddier and muddier, but we had been warned, and wore our boots.

There were lots of birds singing, mostly Song Sparrows.  But we also saw some Ruby-crowned Kinglets and White-throated Sparrows.

At the end, there was a huge pond, so we could go no further.  We flushed a couple of American Bitterns and a Red-tailed Hawk.  We heard many Wilson's Snipes winnowing, but did not see any.  We met a lady walking her dog who told us that she lived at the white house at the corner of McBean.  She said that they had three pairs of bluebirds at their many houses.  But we did not see any of them upon our return.

Peter emailed that there were owlets visible at the GHOW nest, so we hurried over.  We are fortunate that Peter lets us view this owl on private land.  He does not want the location disclosed.   When we got there, the mother was back on the nest, the male flushed and no babies were in sight.  We'll have to try again another day.

There had been some good sightings at Twin Elm, so we stopped by on the way home.  The Rustys and Teals had left, but a Solitary Sandpiper was still present.

We walked the road looking in vain for Rusty Blackbirds, but we did spot a few warblers.

We crossed over the Jock and started for home, but Barbara called out STOP.  She had spotted an Osprey right by the roadside with a fish it had caught.

We were kind of pooped from our long hike, but were well satisfied with our morning's sightings.