I led Spring Field Ornithology Group 6 around Sapsucker Woods, then down to Stewart Park this morning. A walk around the Wilson Trail was more productive than I expected, considering the mostly frozen conditions.
First, among the MALLARDS on the pond outside the Lab windows when we arrived was a single tiny female GREEN-WINGED TEAL. This was a good chance to compare the similarly colored and shaped species, and note the teal's light mark on the side of the tail, dark bill, bright green speculum and slightly bigger-headed, baby-like proportions.
As soon as we went outside we had a chance to compare COMMON GRACKLE, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, and BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD singing atop the same tree. Moments later we saw a GREAT BLUE HERON fly toward the pond and briefly alight in the nest tree before circling and moving low out of sight to the west. When we were by the Fuller Wetlands we saw a tight flock of 4 GREAT BLUE HERONS flying north in apparent migration. As we neared the back pond we saw several WOOD DUCKS fly overhead, and from the bench at the southwest corner of the pond we spied a pair of them resting along the shore, tucked in among some overhanging bushes. There was also a pair of HOODED MERGANSERS which flew from that vicinity to another bit of open water in the middle of the mostly frozen pond.
In the forest a team effort allowed our entire group to see a BROWN CREEPER. First, two students heard a high tinkling unidentified song, which I did not hear but suggested was Brown Creeper, verified by listening to a recording. I immediately heard and pointed out the first of several of its high buzzy trill call notes. One student located the bird, and soon through good communication we all were able to see it climbing a tall tree trunk then flying away to some other tree trunk. Very cool bird.
Another COOPERative bird was an adult Accipiter which remained perched while we scoped it and discussed the white-speckled brush cut on its nape. Eventually it flew off with its head extended beyond the straight line of the leading edge of its wings.
When we got back to the Lab we found a very dusky tan-gray female DARK-EYED JUNCO, and several each of AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS, PINE SISKINS, HOUSE FINCHES, and molting AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES. We talked about differentiating Purple and House Finches, which we'll have more chance to study this Wednesday after the lecture with the help of stuffed specimens in the Cornell Vertebrate Collections, along with many other species ID problems.
For the later part of the morning we carpooled to Stewart Park, with a stop along the way to view the RED-TAILED HAWK nest on the north cliff face in Fall Creek Gorge just east of the Stewart Avenue bridge. As on the Cornell webcam:
http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/16/Red-tailed_Hawks/?pid=2422&ac=ac
an adult was tucked into the nest incubating, but our bird was in a more picturesque photogenic setting.
At Stewart Park we compared HOODED and COMMON MERGANSERS and BUFFLEHEADS near each other in the mouth of Fall Creek. We also saw a female COMMON MERGANSER perch in a large tree next to the stub of a large broken limb, but from our vantage we couldn't tell for certain if the stub was a hollow potential nesting site as I suspect.
Among the CANADA GEESE in Fall Creek was a single HYBRID between a Canada and a domestic goose, possibly one of the family of Graylag types which was raised here, but not the individual from that brood which lived in Stewart Park for several years. Today's bird had an all-black bill, no eye-ring, a thin white feathered strip along the edge of the bill, a somewhat oversized and gray chinstrap, a brown head and neck fading to a gray upper breast, the neck being thick and its feathers ridged the full length, and ochre legs. It was larger than the Canada Geese and relatively rode a bit higher in the water, but was not so high in the rear as pure domestics typically ride.
On the lake we had a nice comparison of AMERICAN BLACK DUCK and female MALLARD. There was also one distant mixed flock of RING-NECKED DUCKS and SCAUP, SP (likely LESSER), and a somewhat closer flock of pure RING-NECKED DUCKS.
The final unusual bird for the day was an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL on the red lighthouse breakwater among several GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS, with HERRING GULLS also nearby.
In all, as a group we observed 43 species plus the hybrid goose and the unspecified scaup. Andrea Wiggins, who works at the Lab with the Citizen Science programs, was in our group. She kept track of numbers of individual birds and will submit lists to eBird.
--Dave Nutter
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