[bcbirdclub] Sunday - Burkes Garden Birding
- From: "Roger Mayhorn" <rmayhorn@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "BCBC Listserve" <bcbirdclub@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2010 13:22:55 -0500
Hi All,
Yesterday, Don Carrier, his son Christian and his brother Rick and I went on a
rather spur of the moment birding outing to Burkes Garden. The sun was shining
and by midday it was warm enough to bird without a coat. The snow is still 2
feet deep in places along the roadside with piles and drifts as high as 5 or 6
feet. In fact the road out to the small pond still had snow deep enough that
the bottom of my SUV dragged. There will probably be snow there until mid or
late April.
We were hoping for some Golden Eagles but didn't see any. We did find the Bald
Eagle's nest just across the road from the Burkes Garden store. One adult was
on the nest and the other was sitting in the open nearby soaking up the
sunshine.
We had a close-up encounter with a Barred Owl near the larger pond. It was
sitting within a few feet of the road at eye level and gave us great
opportunities for long looks and photos.
Aside from starlings the most abundant species we saw was the Horned Lark. We
logged 107 as they flew from one island of brown grass to another, all
surrounded by snow. We saw 2 American Kestrels, 4 Red-tailed Hawks and a couple
of hawks that got away before we could make an ID. The only waterfowl we found
were 4 Canada Geese, 24 Mallards and a couple of Wood Ducks.
Here is a photo of the sleepy Barred Owl. The day's complete list is below the
photo.
Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt
29 species
American Crow 25
American Goldfinch 12
American Kestrel 2
American Robin 14
Bald Eagle 2 (on nest)
Barred Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Black Duck 2
Black Vulture 2
Blue Jay 6
Canada Geese 4
Downy Woodpecker 4
Eastern Bluebird 2
European Starling 139
Green-winged Teal 2
Horned Lark 107
House Sparrow 3
Killdeer 14
Mallard 124
Mourning Dove 1
Northern Flicker 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Red-tailed Hawk 4
Red-winged Blackbird 59
Rock Pigeon 47
Song Sparrow 5
Tufted Titmouse 1
Turkey Vulture 8
Wood Duck 2
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- » [bcbirdclub] Sunday - Burkes Garden Birding - Roger Mayhorn