Birding on Broadmeade Walk

About ten folks joined me on Sunday morning for the monthly group walk. We started at the Braes Valley parking lot of Lake Creek Trail and covered about .7 miles in a couple hours. It was a warm but tolerable morning and we found 38 species of birds. I was hoping we'd find a few southbound migrating songbirds and we did! The most dramatic was a pair of Baltimore Orioles near the footbridge. Here's a distant photo I got of the male:

Baltimore Orioles pass through our neighborhood every spring and fall, but despite their bright colors they are easily missed. They are sneaky when they pass through and often stay hidden in the leaves of the upper canopy. You can increase your chances of finding one if you learn how to recognize their subtle blackbird-like calls.

Also near the footbridge we found couple female Orchard Orioles. I got this poor photo of one:

Both species of orioles can be found in our neighborhood all through September. Try to find one!

On the creek were two lingering summer-resident herons, both juveniles. There was this Green Heron:

And there was this Yellow-crowned Night-Heron:

Some dragonflies are still migrating too, and we saw many Common Green Darners in the air, most headed south. I found this teneral (AKA immature) taking a break and hanging from a limb:

Here's our complete bird list. It was a fun morning!