A Beautiful Easter Morning...some Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and others...

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

I arrived at the park around 8:00 a.m. It was 42 degrees, clear and sunny. A great day to go birdwatching! I was greeted by a titmouse foraging near the parking lot.

Of course the tree swallows are out and about. Some of them have started to bring nesting material into their summer homes. We haven't even cleaned the boxes out yet. But they don't like to waste any time.

Surprisingly, the lower gardens was fairly quiet. Somehow I thought because it was so nice out, it would  a lot more active. Saw robins, goldfinches, blue jays, a grackle warming in the sun, white throated sparrows and house finches. I did see a house sparrow with nesting material, and I suspect it is building a nest in the upper gardens as I saw the male up there.

In the upper gardens, were more tree swallows, white-throated sparrows, song sparrows, robins, a brown-headed cowbird, a tree sparrow, and a house wren. At the invasive pull yesterday, I had seen the house wren in the lower gardens and heard it's lively song, so was glad it was still there. I heard some funny noises near the bee hives and went to investigate. It sounded like zeeee, zeeee and then I caught a brief glimpse of a blue-gray gnatcatcher with it's long tail and white markings. There were at least two. I ran into Ian, who had seen a field sparrow in the lower gardens as well as a kinglet and palm warbler and heard the pine warblers calling in the woods by the JCC.

Showing off a bit of the red crown

The soccer field had at least 26 robins on the field. Must be a great treasure trove of earth worms. A cardinal, brilliant red in the sunlight sang out and a downy woodpecker was working away on a tree trunk.

A mourning dove was singing it's plaintive song while a red-winged blackbird called out. A mallard couple floated by in the river. No sign of the phoebe still, but the nest looks all built up and ready to go. I had brief sighting of a very interesting sparrow - I would have guessed a Lincoln because of it's fine streaking on the side, but I didn't see it long enough to be able to truly be able to identify.

Woodcock meadow turned out to be the hot spot today. I saw two palm warblers in fine breeding colors and then a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. I was most pleased as I heard it's song first and then found it. Auditory skills are not my forte, so I was happy that at least something is sinking in! First it was in a cypress and then it moved to some birch trees where it was having a field day with the catkins along with several chickadees. As I wandered further down the path, a flicker flew up from the ground with it's bright colors showing. A Carolina wren called from the woods.

Ian also pointed out that suddenly, the juncos are gone! They were there last weekend. We get so used to them in the winter and then suddenly they move on. It always seems a bit of a surprise.