Field Trip Report – April 2011
April 2, 2011, Saturday
AquaTerra Park
Sunny, cold, 28 degrees F
The weather reports were wrong this time. Predictions earlier in the week of up to eight inches of snow for Friday and rain/
snow showers for Saturday morning turned out to be clear and sunny. But, a brisk northwest wind made it feel colder than it was.
As winter continues to hold its death grip on an early spring, we had no sightings of any early migrants working their way through the
area. We did hear and see the following:
Heard – Northern Cardinal, Carolina Wren, Gold Finch, Blue Bird, and White Breasted Nuthatches.
Seen – Crows, Chickadees, Canada Geese, Robins, Red Wing Black Birds, Blue Jays, Song Sparrows, Mallard, Tree Sparrow, and a
Red-Tailed Hawk. Fifteen species total.
April 9, 2001
Jones Park
Today we met at Jones Park in the town of Vestal. For once it was not freezing, just a little chilly with gray skies and some sun peaking through at times. It was a typical early spring trip with not a lot of birds yet.
Our bird of the day was the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. We heard and saw many of them.
This is what we observed and noted:
Heard: Mourning Dove, Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Carolina Wren, Winter Wren, Chickadees, and a Ruffed Grouse.
Seen: Northern Cardinal, Junco, Crows, two Ravens, many Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Blue Jays, White Breasted Nut Hatch and Robins. Only fifteen species.
One unknown bird was making a Bzzzz-Trill similar to the Bee-Bzzzz of a Blue-winged Warbler but we could not ID it for sure. Melissa sent the Bird jam file to me of a Blue-wing and it was very close in comparison…even the trill at the end of some of the recordings. A bit early for them, but you never know.
What we did not hear were any Peepers or Wood Frogs. Even up at the two small ponds there was nothing.
Maybe because of the elevation, they are not quite ready.
April 30, 2011
Roy Hyde Park Preserve
What started out as a cooler day than predicted (what’s new, right?) turned out to be a productive day
for an area of only 137 acres. With partly cloudy then clearing skies we were able to find the following birds:
Towhees, Song Sparrows, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Red-winged Black Birds, Field Sparrows, Ruby Crowned Kinglets, Crows, Gold Finches, Northern Cardinals, Chickadees, Coopers Hawk, Juncos, Flickers, Blue Jays, Common Yellowthroats, a pair of Broad-winged Hawks, Ovenbirds, Hermit Thrush, Robins, Black-throated Green Warblers, Veerys, Canada Geese, Purple Finches and the surprise of the day was a King Fisher in the head waters of Six Mile Creek. Our hopes of hearing any Waterthrushes were drowned out by the roar of the water falls at the end of one trail. Another surprise was the crowing of a Peacock!
A quick side trip to the south end of Dryden Lake in hopes of seeing Ospreys was well worth it with the following:
Kestrel, Robins, Tree Swallows, Song Sparrows, Gold Fiches, Starlings, Phoebe, Catbirds, Swamp Sparrow, Yellow Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Downey Wood Pecker, Spotted Sand Pipers, Red-tailed Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk and a Female Cowbird.
Not a bad day with 36 species.
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