Friday, December 31, 2021
Wally said he had no real exciting highlight birds for this last week of
the year. His best were a
Swamp Sparrow and an
Eastern Bluebird.
Interestingly, he noticed many
American Tree Sparrows in some locations.
He stated they were mainly sitting along the edges of the Kirk Road prairies and seemed to be feeding on Indian grass seeds. Other interesting birds for the week were
Common Goldeneye,
Common Merganser,
Northern Harrier and
American Kestrel. Dave
Saturday, December 18, 2021
Since the Lab is still closed down to all but employees and selected
workers, the only birders allowed to conduct this year's Christmas Bird Count were Wally and Donna, both employees of the Lab. With only
two birders covering the entire Lab, numbers were understandably below
recent averages. The species count was 38 but included some very nice
birds. Highlight water birds included
Common Goldeneye (9),
Hooded Merganser (7),
Common Merganser (84),
Sandhill Crane (140) and
Great Blue Heron (1). Raptors were well represented by
Northern Harrier (3),
Bald Eagle (2),
Red-tailed Hawk (10),
Great Horned Owl (3),
Short-eared Owl (1) and
American Kestrel (2). Sparrows found were
American Tree Sparrow (20),
Dark-eyed Junco (89),
White-throated Sparrow (4) and
Swamp Sparrow (1). Other interesting highlights of
the day included
Belted Kingfisher (1),
Hairy Woodpecker (1),
Northern Flicker (9),
Brown Creeper (1),
Eastern Bluebird (5),
Cedar Waxwing (1) and
Yellow-rumped Warbler (4). Also found during the week but
outside the count period was a
Cooper's Hawk. Dave
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