I birded with wonderful birders (Tom and Joanne Goetz, Dale Smith, Herb Smith and Nancy Karp) on april 24.
The trail was the Lori Baer Trail on Plank Road just out of Mayville. Before the rest of us arrived, Tom and Joanne saw 2 Hermit Thrushes. That was a nice beginning. Then it poured. Thank goodness it only lasted a few minutes and we were still near our cars. The rest of the walk was well worth the wait. The trail is about one mile long. We heard 4 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. This member of the woodpecker family has a distinctive drumming sound. It’s not smooth rhythmically. First you hear about five fast taps. But then, the taps slow down and sound syncopated or uneven.
There were five Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Man, are they tough to spot! These tiny birds flit around. We were really lucky to see one of them long enough to spot his red crown raised. He was probably trying to attract a female. He was stunning!
Nancy heard a Red-headed Woodpecker. I need to listen to a CD to refresh my memory of its call. We seem to have fewer of these birds, so that was a great one to hear.
Then, there were the hawks. We saw one Red-shouldered and 13 Broad-winged! Since our walk, I read that lots of people saw many that day. I bet they had fun at the Ripley Hawk Watch. Anyway, this is the closest I’ve been to the bird. Joanne taught us that the Broad-winged has wider stripes in the tail than those of the Red-shouldered. That was the clincher in identifying it.
All along the trail we kept hearing Field Sparrows. This call sounds like a ping-ball dropping on a table. The real thrill was at the end of the trail when we saw a pair of them up close. It’s different from other sparrow because of its pink bill and feet.
You can go to Jamestown Audubon’s website to see a list of all of the birds we saw that day. It was great!
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