In a rare move, the Avid Leadership Team postponed our monthly outing by a day due to weather predictions – which proved correct – of steady rain, sleet and snow. So on Sunday morning, despite an inch of snow on the ground at home, 10 birders set out at the usual 5:30am start time. Fortunately, as we headed south there was no snow on the ground and skies were clear. We picked up 2 more people at the breakfast break.
Our first stop was the feeders at Spring Valley, which were empty, although we saw grackles and red-bellied woodpeckers. So we advanced down the path to the boardwalk, where we flushed good numbers of blue-winged teal. We walked half way around the lake, heard a ring-necked pheasant, and found the usual woodland birds. We had good looks at 2 rusty blackbirds, a species in precipitous decline, perched in a tree near the trail. We drove around the water, got out the scopes at the Coffet Road shoreline, and identified wood ducks, gadwalls, lesser and one greater scaup, green-winged teal, buffleheads, hooded and common mergansers,coots, and mute swans.
Our next stop was the nature center at Caesar Creek, where we quickly located eastern bluebirds, towhees, and an eastern phoebe. On the water, we saw several common loons, a white-winged scoter, common goldeneyes, and horned grebes. We were delighted to find at least 40 rusty blackbirds doing the rusty door hinge call in the trees behind the nature center. Despite checking most of the lake we were unable to locate the previously reported California gull, but we did find several kestrels and bonaparte gulls. Three immature bald eagles and a red-shouldered hawk were admired from the campground boat ramp area.
We proceeded to Deer Creek, where Robert Royse had been scouting all morning. With his help our day list increased to 81 species. We added mallards, black ducks, northern pintails, canvasbacks, redheads, ruddy ducks, and pied-billed, horned, and red-necked grebes. We saw tree swallows, purple martins, and pipits on the beach. The early shorebirds were pectoral sandpipers and greater yellowlegs; killdeer were seen and heard. A highlight was watching “hoodies” (hooded mergansers) in courtship display. A northern harrier was seen as we drove. We diligently searched the sparrow area and were rewarded with vesper and savannah, along with tree, song, and white-throated sparrows. The day was precipitation free, partly sunny and with comfortable temperatures for late March.
Here is our list of species for the day:
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
White-winged Scoter
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
American Coot
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Pectoral Sandpiper
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Eastern Towhee
American Tree Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow