Sean's Blog

Location: Wintergarden Park/St. John’s Nature Preserve
Observation date: 5/9/09
Notes: The weather started about 60 degrees (F) and overcast and ended around 62 degrees (F) and partly sunny. The wind gusted occasionally.
Number of species: 22

• Canada Goose 1
• Wood Duck 2
• Mallard 8
• Turkey Vulture 7
• Cooper’s Hawk 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
• Red-eyed Vireo 1
• Blue Jay 5
• Tree Swallow 2
• Tufted Titmouse 2
• Wood Thrush 1
• American Robin 6
• Gray Catbird 1
• European Starling 1
• Chipping Sparrow 3
• Swamp Sparrow 1
• Northern Cardinal 3
• Indigo Bunting 2
• Red-winged Blackbird 2
• Brown-headed Cowbird 3
• American Goldfinch 5

We went to Wintergarden rather early (compared to when we go on Sundays) as Meghan had to be at Finders for her last day of work by 9:00 AM. This meant getting up around 5:30/6:00 AM in order to get everything together and have enough time to bird. We didn’t see as much as we had hoped for, as it was very windy and we weren’t going at our normal, slow pace. We’re heading up to the lake tomorrow to see what’s there for migration season.

Location: Wintergarden Park/St. John’s Nature Preserve
Observation date: 5/3/09
Notes: Conditions were mainly sunny throughout the day. The temperature when we began was about 58 degrees (F) and about 68 degrees (F) when we finished. Despite the fact that they should have migrated by now, we did see some American Tree Sparrows. I also had the opportunity to see the red-headed woodpecker because I was speaking with another birder while I was taking the time to watch the dozen 1.5 inch mice come out of hiding and run around the underbrush.
Number of species: 33

• Mallard 6
• Turkey Vulture 1
• Mourning Dove 1
• Red-headed Woodpecker 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker 5
• Downy Woodpecker 1
• Great Crested Flycatcher 1
• Eastern Kingbird 2
• Blue Jay 20
• American Crow 1
• Tree Swallow 5
• Black-capped Chickadee 2
• Tufted Titmouse 6
• White-breasted Nuthatch 2
• Winter Wren 1
• Hermit Thrush 3
• Wood Thrush 2
• American Robin 25
• Gray Catbird 6
• European Starling 5
• Black-throated Green Warbler 2
• Pine Warbler 1
• Eastern Towhee 1
• American Tree Sparrow 2
• Field Sparrow 2
• Song Sparrow 2
• White-throated Sparrow 6
• Northern Cardinal 13
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5
• Red-winged Blackbird 2
• Common Grackle 2
• Brown-headed Cowbird 3
• American Goldfinch 12

Location: Wintergarden Park/St. John’s Nature Preserve
Observation date: 4/26/09
Notes: This outing started somewhere around 75 degrees (F) with clear skies but ended around 82 degrees (F) and partly cloudy.
Number of species: 20

• Mallard 3
• Mourning Dove 3
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 4
• Downy Woodpecker 2
• Blue Jay 10
• Tree Swallow 1
• Tufted Titmouse 4
• White-breasted Nuthatch 5
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5
• Eastern Bluebird 1
• Hermit Thrush 3
• American Robin 40
• Gray Catbird 1
• Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
• Song Sparrow 1
• White-throated Sparrow 8
• Northern Cardinal 2
• Red-winged Blackbird 4
• Brown-headed Cowbird 4
• American Goldfinch 12

My wife was disappointed by the lower number of species that we observed, but that was due to the weather being at that point where it actually got too warm.

Location:     Wintergarden Park/St. John’s Nature Preserve

Observation date:     4/5/09

Notes:     Started about 50 degrees and sunny.  Ended near mid 40s and overcast with some precipitation.

Number of species:     27

• Wood Duck – 2
• Mallard – 2
• Turkey Vulture – 1
• Cooper’s Hawk – 1
• Mourning Dove – 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker – 6
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 6
• Downy Woodpecker – 7
• Hairy Woodpecker – 4
• Eastern Phoebe – 2
• Blue Jay – 4
• Tufted Titmouse – 4
• White-breasted Nuthatch – 4
• Brown Creeper – 3
• Carolina Wren – 2
• Winter Wren – 1
• Golden-crowned Kinglet – 2
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet – 1
• Eastern Bluebird – 5
• American Robin – 40
• European Starling – 1
• American Tree Sparrow – 2
• Song Sparrow – 1
• Dark-eyed Junco – 5
• Northern Cardinal – 4
• Pine Siskin – 4
• American Goldfinch – 2

Location: Wintergarden Park/St. John’s Nature Preserve
Observation date: 3/22/09
Notes: Sunny, with occasional cloud cover. Temperature ranged from 54 to 59 degrees, but was typically 8 to 10 degrees warmer when there was no cloud cover.
Number of species: 26

• Mallard – 2
• Turkey Vulture – 3
• Cooper’s Hawk – 1
• Mourning Dove – 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker – 5
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
• Downy Woodpecker – 5
• Eastern Phoebe – 1
• Blue Jay – 4
• American Crow – 4
• Tufted Titmouse – 9
• Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
• White-breasted Nuthatch – 6
• Carolina Wren – 4
• Eastern Bluebird – 4
• American Robin – 30
• American Tree Sparrow – 1
• Song Sparrow – 1
• Dark-eyed Junco – 7
• Northern Cardinal – 6
• Red-winged Blackbird – 1
• Brown-headed Cowbird – 1
• Purple Finch – 1
• Pine Siskin – 3
• American Goldfinch – 5
• House Sparrow – 2

Traveling Count
3/15/09
11:40 AM to 3:15 PM
1.62 mile(s)

• Cooper’s Hawk – 2
• Red-tailed Hawk – 1
• Mourning Dove – 1
• Red-bellied Woodpecker – 6
• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 3
• Downy Woodpecker – 3
• Hairy Woodpecker – 2
• Blue Jay – 2
• Black-capped Chickadee – 4
• Tufted Titmouse – 4
• White-breasted Nuthatch – 6
• Eastern Bluebird – 3
• American Robin – 30
• European Starling – 3
• American Tree Sparrow – 2
• Song Sparrow – 3
• Dark-eyed Junco – 1
• Northern Cardinal – 7
• Red-winged Blackbird – 2
• Pine Siskin – 1
• American Goldfinch – 5
• House Sparrow – 3

After breakfast, Meghan and I went to Wintergarden Park/St. John’s Nature Preserve in BG for some bird watching. I’ve added what we saw to my life list over at ebird.org, but as they do not have a RSS feed, I need to blog about what I saw. Perhaps I’ll figure out if there’s a way to send an e-mail to an account on my server, parse the info, and create a RSS of it; but that sounds needlessly complicated right now. On to the list.

Traveling Count
2/8/09
12:00 PM to 1:45 PM
Distance walked: just over 1 mile
Area covered: 21 acres

Birds seen:

• Mallard – 2
• Cooper’s Hawk – 1
• Mourning Dove – 5
• Downy Woodpecker – 2
• Blue Jay – 3
• American Crow – 7
• Tufted Titmouse – 2
• Eastern Bluebird – 1
• Dark-eyed Junco – 2

Nothing incredibly exciting there, though the Cooper’s Hawk was the first thing we saw; it was perching on a small tree overlooking the feeder area.