Yes, it was very cold – and we had a biting wind along with the low temperature to really peg the misery index meter! The GBNA parking lot hadn’t been plowed and there was 4 inches of snow on the ground to trudge through. Now, you probably think that nobody would be foolish enough to go birding in such conditions – that’s what I was hoping – but to my disappointment surprise 4 others showed up ready to bird like it was a spring day in April! Go figure.
Anyhow, we sort of were rewarded for braving the weather with good looks at a perched Red-shouldered Hawk, two soaring Bald Eagles, several Winter Wrens, and a Brown Creeper. Kendal found us an Eastern Phoebe and we had a lifetime supply of White-throated Sparrows. The bird of the day honors had to be a male Hooded Merganser. It’s not that it was so unusual that earned it this lofty title – it’s that we found it in the Good Spot! Oh, I also need to mention that one part of the path had a sheet of ice covering the water. I broke through the ice and dunked my boot in the water. The low temperatures and the wet foot reminded me of the Jack London short story, “To Build a Fire”. I mentioned this to my birding companions and none of them had heard of it. I’ve attached a pdf of it for all to enjoy.
The wind really started picking up around 10:30 so we quit early and headed home. In total, we identified 32 species on this walk.
Species seen (32)
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Hooded Merganser
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
Species (13) seen on the Dec walk but not the Jan walk.
Great Blue Heron
Herring Gull
Belted Kingfisher
Pileated Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Brown Thrasher
Cedar Waxwing
Fox Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch