Sunday, May 31, 2009

Early Morning Bird Walk May 31


    Well, last walk, best birding and least birders.


    This week we went to Heritage Ranch and concentrated on a strip beside the river which is buck brush stunted shrubbery and aspen . So, we saw boreal species and water species. To get to the area we had to walk through a kilometer of spruce forest .


    The skies were partly overcast and half way through a high wind picked up. We started at 7 AM and finished by 8;30AM.


    Altogether we spotted or heard 25 species . We saw Tennessee warblers, yellow rumped warblers and yellow warblers . They are hard to spot but easy to listen to. On the river there were Canada geese , mallards , mergansers, red winged black birds,and bank swallows. Tree Swallows were in full flight in the treed area . Chipping sparrows , clay colored sparrows and white throated sparrows were in abundance . Of course , crows , ravens and magpies put in their appearance . We also spotted golden crowned kinglets and pine siskins.Ring billed and Franklin gulls floated by. A couple of brown cow birds left their cover of brush.


     This area is very productive habitat and is well worth the effort to get to it . In winter many little nests are found attached to little pieces of brush .


      So the season for Saturday morning bird walks is over . We made many interesting sightings . of course birders find every sighting interesting . We all learned much from each other about birds and how to identify birds.Possibly more sessions could be run as the breeding season is now well underway . Next year? Of course , it will be bigger and better . How about coming out and joining us ?http://www.RDRN.fanweb.ca/