I dropped Sam off at a Girl Scout thing and then went to Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts to join an unofficial field trip organized by Donna Haines. If you didn’t know, they have recently changed their policy to allow free entrance when they are open and there is not some special event going on. I don’t know how many trails they have but there is one that loops around their lake so that is what we took. The sky threatened rain and occasionally delivered a small amount but it wasn’t bad. We saw 25 species including Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Yellow-throated Vireo, and Magnolia Warbler. One notable sighting was an American Crow carrying a Blue Jay chick in his beak with two Blue Jays in hot pursuit. The wild is not always a safe place to live.
Later, I walked the Rocky Valley and East Quarry Trails at Pinnacle Mountain State Park. I heard a first in state (for me) Olive-sided Flycatcher plus a FOS Ovenbird and a few other nice birds such as a Louisiana Waterthrush, Summer Tanager, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
Finally, so far, I heard that the Western Kingbirds had returned to the river port area so after dinner I went down there. I saw a pair in a nest at Custom Metals at the intersection of Fourche Dam Pike and Frazier Pike just like they were last year.
