Today started off with thick fog. That combined with very little sleep the night before had me moving real slow today. I covered what I would guess is the least amount of ground on any of my walks in 2013. My impression was that I probably tallied the least number of species, however, when I got home and wrote things down I was surprised to see that I had the most species of any walk so far with 42 in all. By the way, my year list for the preserve is now up to 58. There was nothing to unusual to report with the exception of Killdeer, which I almost never see there. Sparrow species were good again with 7 total.
Stat time: 8:50
End time: 11:30
Temp: 51
Wind: 56
Skies: thick fog turning to clear skies.
Species Total: 42
- Great Blue Heron – 1
- Black Vulture – 2
- Turkey Vulture – 12
- Snow Goose – 41
- Canada Goose – approximately 400
- Mallard – 13
- Common Merganser – 1
- Sharp-shinned Hawk – 2, immatures
- Red-tailed Hawk – 4, adults
- Killdeer – 1, heard only. This is another species that I rarely see or hear at the preserve. I would think the plowed fields would attract at least a few. This is only the 5th time that I have recorded one at the preserve.
- Herring Gull – 2
- Mourning Dove – approximately 250
- Red-bellied Woodpecker – approximately 12
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1, heard only
- Downy Woodpecker – approximately 20
- Hairy Woodpecker – 2
- Northern Flicker – 1
- Blue Jay – approximately 15
- American Crow – approximately 400
- Carolina Chickadee – approximately 25
- Tufted Titmouse – approximately 20
- White-breasted Nuthatch – approximately 12
- Carolina Wren – approximately 10
- Winter Wren – 1, heard only
- Eastern Bluebird – approximately 30
- American Robin – 2
- Northern Mockingbird – 2
- European Starling – approximately 75
- Cedar Waxwing – 6, Bird of the Day! Last observed in October.
- American Tree Sparrow – 5
- Field Sparrow – 5
- Savannah Sparrow – 1
- Fox Sparrow – 1
- Song Sparrow – approximately 50
- Swamp Sparrow – 3
- White-throated Sparrow – approximately 100
- Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 25
- Northern Cardinal – approximately 20
- Red-winged Blackbird – approximately 200
- Common Grackle – approximately 1000
- House Finch – approximately 15
- American Goldfinch – approximately 20