Friday, April 23, 2010

Bird Atlas work-Red Crossbills







I spent the morning doing my first bit of atlasing for the fourth season of the Breeding Bird Atlas. I spent a total of around 5 hours covering about 11 miles of road/trails. There were many highlights including an early Black Throated Blue Warbler, a Black and White Warbler, Red Crossbills, Evening Grosbeaks, etc. I will let the list speak for itself.

Canada Goose 10 several pairs
Wood Duck 4
Mallard 3
Ring-necked Duck 2 males
Hooded Merganser 8 a few pairs near nest boxes
Ruffed Grouse 6 drumming
Wild Turkey 20 many displaying birds
Common Loon 1 breeding plumage
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 in same area where nesting was suspected previous years
Cooper's Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 3 two together, low, calling
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Kestrel 1 male
Mourning Dove 16
Barred Owl 2 pair calling back and forth
Belted Kingfisher 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 19
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 5
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 6 nesting
Blue-headed Vireo 18
Blue Jay 45
American Crow 5
Tree Swallow 11
Black-capped Chickadee 44
Red-breasted Nuthatch 14 several pairs
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Brown Creeper 3 carrying nest material
Winter Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 10
Hermit Thrush 5
American Robin 53 carrying nest material and building nests
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 heard and then seen...early
Yellow-rumped Warbler 45
Pine Warbler 46 several pairs, most males
Palm Warbler 7
Black-and-white Warbler 1 heard and seen
Eastern Towhee 67
Chipping Sparrow 56 many pairs
Field Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 11 carrying nest material
Swamp Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 7
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 22
Common Grackle 7
Brown-headed Cowbird 17
Purple Finch 7
Red Crossbill 4 group together, photos taken. North of area where I had them breeding last year
American Goldfinch 17
Evening Grosbeak 9 four distinct pairs plus at least one more heard

2 comments:

  1. You lucky guy Larry!!! I have yet to ever see a Red Crossbill or Evening Grosbeak. You got some really nice shots of the crossbill and love how you can actually see that odd bill of theirs. Sounds like you have a real nice block to explore this year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am truly lucky to have some great blocks for the atlas survey. I had another great day in there today...I'll see if I can convince some of the crossbills and grosbeaks to head east for a bit for you.

    ReplyDelete