April 8, 2017
Fox Island County Park
Ten birders enjoyed sunny skies and calm conditions this morning for the Stockbridge Audubon field trip to Fox Island County Park. As hoped, the much improved weather, after several rainy and windy days, prompted a fair amount of singing, and most of us enjoyed ticking a number of annuals. Highlights included nice encounters with singing Winter Wrens, Hermit Thrushes, Brown Thrashers, and Fox Sparrows, as well as our FOS Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. We also encountered noisy Rusty Blackbirds throughout our hike and had nice, close looks at a variety of plumages. Perhaps the bird of the day was an energetically singing House Wren, earliest for NE Indiana by five days. Our list of 57 species:
Canada Goose- 3
Wood Duck- 5
Mallard- 3
Blue-winged Teal- 2
Pied-billed Grebe- 15; not sure we've ever seen that many together before on Bowman Lake
Horned Grebe- 1
Double-crested Cormorant- 50; flyover flocks of 45, 4, and 1
Great Blue Heron- 2
Turkey Vulture- 4
Bald Eagle- 2
Cooper's Hawk- 1
Red-tailed Hawk- 3
Killdeer- 2
Mourning Dove- 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker- 6
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker- 2
Downy Woodpecker- 5
Hairy Woodpecker- 3
Northern Flicker- 6
Pileated Woodpecker- 2
Eastern Phoebe- 5
Blue Jay- 3
American Crow- 2
Tree Swallow- 2
Carolina Chickadee- 9
Tufted Titmouse- 4
White-breasted Nuthatch- 8
HOUSE WREN- 1 singing; earliest spring arrival for NE Ind. by 5 days; our FOS
Winter Wren- 2 singing; nice
Carolina Wren- 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher- 2; our FOS
Golden-crowned Kinglet- 26
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 2; one singing; a personal FOS
Eastern Bluebird- 3
Hermit Thrush- 3; two singing, one quite nicely; I don't hear this song often enough.
American Robin- 10
Brown Thrasher- 2 singing; a personal FOS
European Starling- 1 at feeders during lunch (yea!)
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 6; one singing
Eastern Towhee- 7
American Tree Sparrow- 10
Chipping Sparrow- 2
Field Sparrow- 6
Fox Sparrow- 5; several singing
Song Sparrow- 6
Swamp Sparrow- 1 singing
White-throated Sparrow- 7
Dark-eyed Junco- 8
Northern Cardinal- 11
Red-winged Blackbird- 17
Rusty Blackbird- 130
Common Grackle- 6
Brown-headed Cowbird- 14
House Finch- 4
Purple Finch- 1 nice male at feeders during lunch; sang a couple of times
American Goldfinch- 11
House Sparrow- 6
Also of some interest: Yesterday afternoon, I noted that the Serv-All cormorant load had increased to 135 birds. Bleh.
Rodger Rang
Fort Wayne
Fox Island County Park
Ten birders enjoyed sunny skies and calm conditions this morning for the Stockbridge Audubon field trip to Fox Island County Park. As hoped, the much improved weather, after several rainy and windy days, prompted a fair amount of singing, and most of us enjoyed ticking a number of annuals. Highlights included nice encounters with singing Winter Wrens, Hermit Thrushes, Brown Thrashers, and Fox Sparrows, as well as our FOS Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. We also encountered noisy Rusty Blackbirds throughout our hike and had nice, close looks at a variety of plumages. Perhaps the bird of the day was an energetically singing House Wren, earliest for NE Indiana by five days. Our list of 57 species:
Canada Goose- 3
Wood Duck- 5
Mallard- 3
Blue-winged Teal- 2
Pied-billed Grebe- 15; not sure we've ever seen that many together before on Bowman Lake
Horned Grebe- 1
Double-crested Cormorant- 50; flyover flocks of 45, 4, and 1
Great Blue Heron- 2
Turkey Vulture- 4
Bald Eagle- 2
Cooper's Hawk- 1
Red-tailed Hawk- 3
Killdeer- 2
Mourning Dove- 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker- 6
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker- 2
Downy Woodpecker- 5
Hairy Woodpecker- 3
Northern Flicker- 6
Pileated Woodpecker- 2
Eastern Phoebe- 5
Blue Jay- 3
American Crow- 2
Tree Swallow- 2
Carolina Chickadee- 9
Tufted Titmouse- 4
White-breasted Nuthatch- 8
HOUSE WREN- 1 singing; earliest spring arrival for NE Ind. by 5 days; our FOS
Winter Wren- 2 singing; nice
Carolina Wren- 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher- 2; our FOS
Golden-crowned Kinglet- 26
Ruby-crowned Kinglet- 2; one singing; a personal FOS
Eastern Bluebird- 3
Hermit Thrush- 3; two singing, one quite nicely; I don't hear this song often enough.
American Robin- 10
Brown Thrasher- 2 singing; a personal FOS
European Starling- 1 at feeders during lunch (yea!)
Yellow-rumped Warbler- 6; one singing
Eastern Towhee- 7
American Tree Sparrow- 10
Chipping Sparrow- 2
Field Sparrow- 6
Fox Sparrow- 5; several singing
Song Sparrow- 6
Swamp Sparrow- 1 singing
White-throated Sparrow- 7
Dark-eyed Junco- 8
Northern Cardinal- 11
Red-winged Blackbird- 17
Rusty Blackbird- 130
Common Grackle- 6
Brown-headed Cowbird- 14
House Finch- 4
Purple Finch- 1 nice male at feeders during lunch; sang a couple of times
American Goldfinch- 11
House Sparrow- 6
Also of some interest: Yesterday afternoon, I noted that the Serv-All cormorant load had increased to 135 birds. Bleh.
Rodger Rang
Fort Wayne
