NASWC Bird Walk

11 folks participated in the August NASWC Bird Walk this morning. I was so impressed that so many people showed up on such a hot morning at a time of year when the birding is relatively slow. When we met at the Parmer Village model homes at 7:30 the sun was already blazing and there was almost no wind. 2 hours later a pleasant breeze was blowing and we had tallied 31 species of birds, including the first south-bound fall migrants I've seen in the neighborhood this summer. Here are the highlights:

• A Red-tailed Hawk flew right over us before we even started walking.
• This adult Green Heron was at the edge of the Parmer Village drainage pond and didn't mind us viewing it from multiple angles as we started walking down the trail. We saw 2 more juvenile Green Herons this morning as well.

• Besides the Green Herons, we saw a Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, and 2 Snowy Egrets as well. The active hunting style of the Snowy Egrets was fun to watch.
• Dragonflies were all over the place, and near the last dam on the creek we got a close look at this male Common Whitetail.

• Nearby Bill Dodd found this worn Common Buckeye butterfly.

• At the edge of the T&C playing fields a couple of us got a brief look at a female or first-year male Painted Bunting.
• There were many Purple Martins in the air along the trail this morning, and around the full-size baseball field we saw 40 or 50 perched on the light posts.
• In the creek bed nearby I was thrilled to find about 80 Least Sandpipers. You can find these migratory birds on our creek almost all year long. These were the first I've seen in the neighborhood since their short yearly absence during June and part of July.
• As we watched the sandpipers we found the first south-bound migrating songbird I've seen this summer -- a first-year male Orchard Oriole.