The last bird walk of the season was quite rewarding. Highlights include Great Horned Owls, Cedar Waxwings, and Warbling Vireo.
We started out in the new Native Plant Garden and were amazed by the meadow. Dragonflies and damsels were darting about all the native flowering plants. This is the haven that produced a Lark, Clay, and Vesper sparrow, last October. We are excited to see what this fall will bring as the new plantings will be even more mature with seed. The tour continued around the swamp, where we saw Cedar Waxwings. Then up through the Crabapples watching Orioles bathing and Eastern Kingbirds fly-catching. We went down to the secret forest, along the Bronx River and observed a Cormorant swimming, under water, like a shark. We passed the waterfall and went into the forest looking for our resident Great Horned Owls. We found two- see below. It was a wonderful 3 hour journey with very nice birders some who were new and many of the regulars. Along the way we spotted: Eastern Kingbirds (2 Baltimore Orioles-( 5 Warbling Vireos- (6 Cedar Waxwings -6 Blue jays-4 Cardinals -3 Red winged blackbirds-4 Cormorant -1 Osprey-1 Turkey Vulture-1 Mallard-2 Yellow warbler - heard Northern flicker- 2 Red bellied woodpecker -3 heard White breasted nuthatch-1 Mourning dove-4 Song sparrow-3 Chipping sparrow-2 heard American Robin- many Grackle-13 The best part of the tour occurred when we were looking for the resident owls. With all the foliage they blended in nicely, but at one point we heard jays mobbing and suddenly a large bird flew out from a branch - it was an adult GHO! It flew right by us- jays in hot pursuit! After carefully examining the surrounding trees, I found the cat like eyes of the immature GHO staring at us through a break in the foliage. This owl has the largest eyes I have ever seen on an immature bird. (I will post photographs on my site later). We had great looks and then left quickly so as not to disturb the owls. The tour ended by the small pond in back of Twin Lakes as we watched 3 Orioles searching for food in the trees. As this season comes to an end I would like to thank all the birders who come to my Saturday morning bird walk; rain, shine, snow, sleet and even tropical storm! This year we had so much snow that many of the paths were covered but somehow we managed to get all the good birds in the garden. It's been a pleasure to meet all the new people who are learning how to bird watch. it is also a great deal of fun to bird with the "regulars." Thank you! I hope to see everyone September 6th at 11am when the walk resumes. The great fall migration begins in September - so don't miss the Hummers, hawks, warblers and eagles! Until then, have a great summer and happy birding! Debbie Becker, BirdingAroundNYC.com Bird Guide for NYBG.org -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
