Arrived at about 7:45. It was sunny, mid-50s, and very windy. Saw a single Mallard on Lake Conway and nothing else. In Bell Slough, I went past what I always considered the end of the levee (where the mud always gets bad) to see what there was. I found that the road continued though as a muddy no-gravel kind of road. This wound around staying close to Palarm Creek for a while. Then I found a similar but straight road jutting away from it. I had no compass but based on the Sun’s position, I’d say it ran close to North-South. I followed it a good ways and began to wonder if it was the same road I had previous seen at Bell Slough East. I didn’t want to find out and then walk all the way back and when I got to a marker warning that there was an underground line there I decided to turn back. However, instead of backtracking I took off into the woods knowing that I would eventually run into the road or Grassy Lake. There was little underbrush and the going was not hard. This was the best decision of the day as this is where the warblers were hiding. After a while the soil got much wetter though I never ran into the lake proper. Finally I found myself at what I had considered the end of the road until today. In all I spent 3 ½ hours there at Bell.
Species seen or heard:
• American Redstart
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Blackburnian Warbler
• Magnolia Warbler
• Prothonatory Warbler
• Osprey (with fish in talons)
• Swainson’s Thrush
• Veery
• Common Yellowthroat
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Mallard
• American Robin
• Northern Mockingbird
• Blue Jay
• Canada Goose
• Common Grackle
• White-eyed Vireo
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Wren
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird
• Indigo Bunting
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo
• Barn Swallow
• Red-eyed Vireo
• Turkey Vulture
• Black Vulture
• Fish Crow
• American Goldfinch
• Orchard Oriole
• Green Heron
• Tufted Titmouse
• Eastern Wood-pewee
• Wood Duck
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Northern Cardinal
• Downy Woodpecker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• American Crow
• Eastern Kingbird
• Bank Swallow
• Cliff Swallow
