May 20, 2025
Birding Report by Jane Burgess
Eleanor, Bill, Barbara and I set
off to Ross Road at 7:30 and of course our first stop was at Antrim
Truck Stop for some baked goodies. Our first birding stop was at the
stop just before Cobden where we saw Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow
Warbler, Osprey and heard Swamp Sparrows.
We
met up with Anne at the boat launch. The water was really quite rough
and nothing could be seen on the water. We walked over to the
park where a single Spotted Sandpiper was seen. Red-eyed Vireos and
Warbling Vireos were singing up a storm. We heard Blackpoll and
Tennessee Warblers. Once back at the vehicle, Bill said he saw a Common
Loon on the water, I lifted my bins and yes Common Loon - I thought of
Barb C who is always looking for Loons.
Back on
the road, we drove to the Snake River Line. Finally I saw my first
Savannah Sparrow of the season. Two very thoughtful male Bobolink flew
to a small tree beside the road opposite the vehicle and perched there
while Bill and Barbara photographed them. A bit further down the road
we heard Common Yellowthroat. I pished and one male flew up and bounced
around in a tree, making it difficult for photos. There was a swamp
near the road and we heard both Sora and Virginia Rail, but they would
not show themselves. Rails are shy little creatures.
We
stopped at a house where there is a feeder and we saw a
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole and a Hairy Woodpecker, A Blue
Jay kept flying in disturbing the Grosbeak and Oriole. But lucky for
us, the birds were not scared away, they just moved up the pole a bit
and let the hungry Blue Jay stuff its face with peanuts. Once it had
its fill the birds flew back to the feeder. We saw both male and female
Orioles
We heard Meadowlarks in the field,
but I think they must have been on the nest because all we heard was
singing. There was a little foray happening in the sky above us, a
small blackbird was attacking a very large bird. Watching this play out
the larger bird turned such that we could easily see its red tail --
Red-tailed Hawk. I love it when I see a small bird take after a large
bird, the little one has such maneuverability that it usually wins
chasing the larger bird away. But Eleanor did point out the larger bird
may have a baby bird or egg in its mouth -- so who won?
Along
another road we heard Northern Waterthrush and saw a Blue-wing Teal
swimming in the ditch, but when we got closer to the duck, it flew.
The
weather was quite cool and windy as we got out at the swamp on Ross
Road. We had seen a Common Gallinule from the vehicle, but once we got
out the bird disappeared. We heard a few Gallinules while we walked
but they were making their appearance difficult for us to really get a
good look. Bill and Anne were able to photograph one. I walked off in a
different direction than the other four. I wanted to see if I could
actually see a rail, the Sora and Virginia Rail. I waited patiently to
hear which bird was singing close to the road, Virginia Rail. I played
Virginia Rail and the bird sang back. I must have waited 10 minutes or
so and finally I saw movement. Great, I saw the bird enough to
photograph it. I was not so lucky with the Sora.
I
walked back to join Bill, Barbara and Ann to find out what they had
seen, Ring-necked Duck, Common Gallinule and they had tried for the
rails but did not see either. I walked up to where Eleanor was, she had
seen a Chimney Swift amongst the Tree Swallows and heard a Veery Saw
one Marsh Wren, can you believe just one Marsh Wren, there are usually
lots of wrens at this marsh. Not sure if the cool weather stopped them
from singing or if there were just not many at the marsh. A car drove
up and the occupants asked if we had seen the Swans, nope was our
response. There had been 4 Swans at the marsh yesterday and the
speculation was they were last year's cygnets. Eleanor pointed to
another little foray going on in the distance and lucky for us, the
bigger bird decided to perch in a far off tree. Back to the vehicle,
Eleanor got out her scope and while the view was good, it was difficult
to determine what the raptor was. We called Bill and he said light
morph Rough-legged Hawk.
While we were at the
vehicle, a bird flew by -- Pileated Woodpecker. Eleanor walked to the
other end of the marsh, where I had seen the Virginia Rail. I
eventually joined her, lucky I did because a Least Flycatcher was
flitting about. She had heard a Great Crested Flycatcher and yes she
also heard Sora and Virginia Rail. I noticed the others were all in the
vehicle, time for lunch. By the time I joined them, they were almost
done. We discussed what we should do next as we warmed up in the car.
Did I say it was cold for May 20. Guess Mother Nature forgot May 20 was
supposed to be a lot warmer than 8 or 10 degrees.
At
some point we noticed some big birds in the distant trees. Most of the
birds were Turkey Vultures while another was very light, turns out it
was the Rough-legged Hawk we had seen previously. Like are the odds
that two light morph Rough-legged Hawks would be in the area at the same
time.
We decided to go around to the other side of the swamp. Nothing new.
Driving
the roads we stopped at a corner where we heard Chestnut-sided Warbler,
two made a very brief appearance. Bill said where next, we should
drive roads where there are trees on either side of the road. We were
on a road with no trees but hydro lines, what is that -- Eastern
Bluebird. Another species I had not seen this season. I got out of the
car to take a photo and the bird had flown.
Time
to head home. We stopped once again at Antrim Truck stop, this time
for a health break. I thought I would try my luck and asked Bill if we
could stop at Holland Marsh. Sure was his response, it is on the way
home.
Initially Holland Marsh yielded two
Yellowlegs. But we just kept looking, one of the Yellowlegs had a
broken wing and it took on a smaller bird. A Great Blue Heron flew in,
scaring one of the yellowlegs from where it was hiding and it joined the
others, making three yellowlegs -- 2 lesser and 1 greater. Then
another bird flew in, a Dunlin. A small peep flew into a sandy area
close to us -- Least Sandpiper, then a Yellowlegs flew in - Lesser
Yellowlegs. While Bill and I were watching the shorebirds, Eleanor was
lucky enough to see a Wilson's Snipe fly over.
All
in all we ended up with 69 species of birds. It took all of us to
make up this number, often 1 or 2 birds of each species except for the
common species. For me Ross Road swamp was a disappointment, but the
day was not.
Species Noted
- Common Grackle
- Mallard
- American Robin
- European Starling
- Downy Woodpecker
- House Finch
- Northern Cardinal
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Rock Pigeon
- Ring-billed Gull
- Song Sparrow
- American Crow
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Grey Catbird
- Blue Jay
- American Goldfinch
- Canada Goose
- Great Blue Heron
- Turkey Vulture
- Yellow Warbler
- Osprey
- Swamp Sparrow
- Tree Swallow
- Spotted Sandpiper
- House Sparrow
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Lesser Scaup
- Blackpoll Warbler
- Tennessee Warbler
- Chipping Sparrow
- Common Loon
- Bobolink
- Eastern Kingbird
- Barn Swallow
- Common Yellowthroat
- Savannah Sparrow
- Mourning Dove
- Warbling Vireo
- American Redstart
- Virginia Rail
- Sora
- Wild Turkey
- Common Raven
- Rose-breasted Grosbeak
- Baltimore Oriole
- Hairy Woodpecker
- Eastern Meadowlark
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Nashville Warbler
- Northern-winged Teal
- Blue-winged Teal
- Common Gallinule
- Rough-legged Hawk
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Chimney Swift
- Least Flycatcher
- Marsh Wren
- Ring-neck Duck
- Great-crested Flycatcher
- Veery
- Ovenbird
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
- Eastern Bluebird
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Dunlin
- Greater Yellowlegs
- Least Sandpiper
- Wilson's Snipe
- Green-wing Teal
Critters Noted
- Painted Turtle
- Muskrat
- White-tailed Deer
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