Sunday, February 16, 2014

Bell’s Bend Park
Feb. 15, 2014

Despite the bizarre meeting time, nineteen birders showed up at Bell's Bend this evening to look for displaying American Woodcocks. Many of us did a little birding before the "big show" and produced a decent list. Most notable were a couple of Fox Sparrows, one Northern Harrier, and a few fly-over blackbird flocks of several thousand birds consisting of mostly Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles, though there could have been a few Rusties hidden with them. But of course, the main attraction was the woodcocks, and they did not disappoint. At least ten woodcocks were heard and a few seen just after sundown. A big thanks to Cyndi Routledge for leading the outing! A complete list of species is below.

19 species

Northern Harrier-1
Red-tailed Hawk-1
Cooper's Hawk-1
American Woodcock-10
Mourning Dove-1
Carolina Chickadee-x (heard only)
Carolina Wren-2
American Robin-50+
Northern Mockingbird-1
Yellow-rumped Warbler-1
Eastern Towhee-6
Swamp Sparrow-20+
Song Sparrow-20+
White-throated Sparrow-20+
Northern Cardinal-25+
Red-winged Blackbird-1500+
Common Grackle-1500+
Eastern Meadowlark-12
House Finch-2

Chloe Walker
Field Trip Coordinator