Springbrook Nature Center

I was able to get out for a walk at Springbrook today. It was a wonderful sunny day for a walk through the park. I was able to see a few birds, including a couple firsts for the year: Scaup(Not sure if Lesser/Greater, they were to far away), American Coot, and the Eastern Phoebe's are back in our yard again. Every year we have a nesting pair that lays claim to a motion light we have on the front of our house. Here are few pictures from today at Springbrook (I'll post some more tomorrow.)

Eastern Bluebird:


Canada Goose:


Red-winged Blackbird:


. . . I also discovered a nesting pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers in our yard! Very Cool!



You'll notice in the picture that there are 2 holes in the tree, the one occupied by the Woodpecker, and another one above it. Does anyone have a guess as to why there are two holes? I'm certainly not sure . . .

Spring is coming . . .

. . . or maybe its here! We took a short walk this afternoon at Lochness Park and saw a few firsts for the year. Although I had seen a single Red-winged Blackbird earlier this season, there were many more calling out today. We also saw a Great Blue Heron (first of the year), Fox Sparrow (first of the year), and an Eastern Bluebird(also a first for the year). So far a short walk after work, I would say it was a pretty good day! I'm hoping to get out again tomorrow morning if the weather holds. It's supposed to rain starting tomorrow afternoon into Sunday.

Eastern Bluebird:


Great Blue Heron:

Pileated Woodpecker

This morning the bird feeders were humming with activity. The Red-bellied woodpeckers were especially active. We also had the usual Chickadees, Blue-jays, and Juncos. A visitor we haven't had since the spring was a single Goldfinch in winter plumage. The feeders were getting low (the suet feeder was empty) and I was about to head out and fill them up when this Pileated Woodpecker flew in looking for a snack.

Pileated Woodpecker:


Pileated Woodpecker:


Both photos taken through the window.

Fox Sparrow

Well Monday was 80 degrees or so and I had to get out! Carlos Avery still has its gates closed so I walked the south section right near the entrance to the Wildlife Science Center. The first 20 minutes I didn't see anything but after that things got a lot more interesting. I saw a number of birds: Trumpeter Swans, Hooded Mergansers, Fox Sparrows, Tree Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. Here's a few pictures from the day.

Fox Sparrow:


Sandhill Cranes:


I should probably know this one, but I'll be honest any help here would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks to all that replied.
ID = Song Sparrow:

Carlos Avery WMA

Last week my father and I went birding up at Carlos Avery WMA (see the link on the right). We were a little early for the migration so I'm hoping that this week will yield a few more birds. Even though we were a bit early we did see some nice birds and probably identified about 20 different species. All and all, we had a really nice afternoon. Here are a couple pictures from outing:

Eastern Bluebird:


Canada Goose on it's nest: