Taking Thursday morning off, I decided to hit Gillam Park which I hadn’t been to in about 11 days (a long time during spring migration). I arrived at 7:20 and started down the main trail. Of course after all the rain, the back side was flooded so it didn’t take as long to walk as usual. The bird count seemed low to me with only 26 species for the morning but I did manage to see Chestnut-sided Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Summer Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole, plus first of season Magnolia Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, and Philadelphia Vireo. According to Dan, Philadelphia Vireo is a new bird for the park.
Rock Creek Trail and Two Rivers Park 4/27/2011
Edie Calaway and I walked Rock Creek Trail Wednesday morning. It was still cloudy from all the rain but at least it wasn’t raining. We saw a few notable birds – Great Crested Flycatcher, Swainson’s Thrush, Nashville Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, and Swamp Sparrow among them but overall it was kind of slow.
After a short break, I decided to make a speed trip to Two Rivers Park where I figured I could bird for an hour before going to work. I stuck to the paved trail through the swamp down through “Rail Alley” as its been called. Notable birds there were Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Nashville Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, about 50 Indigo Bunting, and a first of season Chestnut-sided Warbler.
Cook’s Landing 4/25/2011
After dropping Sam off at school, I headed to Cook’s Landing to get some birding in before the predicted thunderstorms arrived. There are lots of Canada Goslings around if you want to see.
I wanted to walk the River Trail and Pfeiffer Loop Trail but decided to start at that little peninsula that extends downstream from the dam. That was fortuitous because as soon as I started down this finger of land, I encountered a FOS Spotted Sandpiper and then another. About the same time I was encircled by a cloud of mixed swallows, mainly Cliff & Barn, looking for a meal. Besides being cool in its own right, I paused for a bit and then heard a even steady trill that cried out “warbler”. I found a FOS Palm Warbler in the low brush on the NLR side of the peninsula. Before leaving the peninsula I spotted a single FOS Caspian Tern looking for a meal over the river on the LR side.
Getting back to the River Trail I found the most productive area to be the first quarter mile east of the Big Dam Bridge parking area. Besides the more common fare, there was a FOS Yellow Warbler, a Warbling Vireo, a Yellow-breasted Chat, several Baltimore Oriole, an Indigo Bunting, and at mile marker 7.0 in a plum bush there was a singing male Painted Bunting, another first of season.
On the way back, along Pfieffer Loop Trail in the rain that had started I heard a single Swainson’s Thrush. This loop ought to be very good for thrush, I’ve encountered Hermit Thrush there many times but probably due to the rain, just the one not so rare right now Swainson’s Thrush was it.
