Species

Species

Double-crested Cormorant, Green Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Mourning Dovem Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Barred Owl, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern King Bird, Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Purple Martin, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Pine Warbler, American Redstart, Chipping Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch

Bill Sefton Reports: Stifling humidity with hardly a breath of breeze along with some substantial puddles wrought from the previous day’s heavy rain is what the 9 birders had to deal with for this walk. In other words, normal July conditions. What wasn’t normal was being blocked from getting to the parking area by a recalcitrant Snapping Turtle in the middle of the road. We identified 44 bird species on the day along with 3 species of turtles (Common Snapping, Eastern Box, and Red-eared Slider). I’ll give the bird of the day honors to the American Redstarts – there were 3 of them flitting about in the same clump of trees just a few yards from the path. Since the Horsepen area is still fenced off, we swung by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge Visitors Center to finish the walk. The complete list of 44 species identified is shown below. Actually it is above.