Saturday, July 7, 2012

Birding on Broadmeade Walk

On Sunday, July 1, 9 folks met me at the Lake Creek Trail parking lot at the end of Braes Valley for my monthly neighborhood bird walk. The highlight of the morning was the weather. It was beautifully overcast and breezy all morning, and we ended the walk by getting rained on. I guess I kept us out just a little too long. Here are a few of us (I'm in the gray t-shirt):


(By the way, all the photos in this post were taken by Barry Noret.)



Birding highlights include 3 juvenile Eastern Bluebirds, close looks at Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, a single female Painted Bunting by the footbridge, and a Red-shouldered Hawk. We watched the hawk fly up and down the creek and get harassed by jays, crows, mockingbirds, and more every time it landed. Barry got this photo of the hawk with one of its Northern Mockingbird tormenters:


And here's one of the Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. This exotic-looking species is always a crowd pleaser!



Here's our complete bird list for the morning. Don't let the heat keep you inside all summer!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mikael,

Reviewing your blog, something I look forward to every month after your walk. And noticed: I keep a calendar in front of me at the desk, and this year it is a Audubon calendar, sent to me as a gift for a donation in memory of a family member. For July, it has a beautiful 8x10 photo of a juvenile Yellow cowned Night-Heron, and I just noticed it today as most of my attention is on the days and my noting of happenings etc. What a site, and I have seen them on the creek walk down to T&C and over by Forest North Elementary. I take my dogs every day one way or the other. And I have been able to identify and know them because of your blog. Thank you.

Best Regards, Don Markette....

Anonymous said...

Know the birds that is.

Mikael Behrens said...

Don, thanks for the kind words! I'm glad the blog helped you identify Yellow-crowned Night-Heron on the trail. One of the reasons I write it is to show people the surprising diversity of birds and other wildlife that can be found right here.