Fall Bird Walk with Haynes Miller

Fall Bird Walk Group

I always like to get to the park early on the day of Hayne's Fall Bird Walk and check out the lower gardens before meeting near the Nature Center down by the river.

It was 42 degrees, chilly, but clear and sunny. A great day for birdwatching. Haynes was also checking it out. It was pretty quiet - lots of robins, some goldfinches, song sparrows, blue jays, chickadees and house finches.

We headed to the meeting area at the Nahanton St. park entrance where a group of people were waiting.

Haynes spotted what was probably a pine warbler or possibly a blackpoll high up i n a tree. We saw a black & white warbler which then got into a chasing game with the pine.

As we headed down the path to the gardens, we saw some catbirds grouped together in a shrub.

The lower gardens had chipping sparrows, song sparrows, and a quick view of a Lincoln sparrow which some, but not all of us were able to see. Another black and white warbler was seen, and some goldfinches and eastern phoebes.

The highlight of the day was in the scrub at the base of the path to the upper gardens. Some movement was spotted and we were able to discern what Haynes identified as an Orange-crowned warbler. A rare sighting and thus quite exciting, even for experienced birders.

Bald Eagle Juvenile

The upper gardens turned out to be the hotspot of the day! In addition to song and house sparrows, we saw swamp sparrows, another Lincoln (which most of us missed), a savannah sparrow, white-throated sparrows and a beautiful view of a field sparrow. An indigo bunting was seen looking very brown save for a little bit of blue on his upper wings. Haynes caught a glimpse of a blue-gray gnatcatcher. A tufted titmouse was busy foraging in one of the gardens and a house wren scolded. Chickadees were flitting about in one of the trees near the edge of the woods. We saw begging cardinal babies and the male parent and more house finches. In the woods at the back there was suddenly a flurry of activity. Haynes spotted a black-throated blue and most of us saw some yellow rump warblers, and a male Parula. Also had some sightings of a ruby-crowned kinglet. A downy woodpecker was combing one of the tree trunks.

A dark raptor appeared in the sky and it was a young bald eagle which is quite exciting since we saw an adult a few weeks back. Wouldn't it be great if some day they end up nesting at Nahanton?

If you haven't been on one of these walks, I highly recommend it. You just never know what you are going to see!