Songbirds were present but difficult to see. I don't know why, but in my experience when it's overcast, songbirds don't come out in the open as much. We heard mostly and sometimes saw Yellow-rumped Warblers, Northern Cardinals, White-throated Sparrows, a Field Sparrow, a Hermit Thrush, Lincoln's and Song Sparrows, House Wrens, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Barry Noret dropped behind the group for awhile and got this amazing photo of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. I love these little green winter-resident birds and Barry's photo is one of the best I've ever seen:
Besides the obvious field marks of wing-bars and and a big white eye-ring, this photo is close and sharp enough to show a lesser known attribute -- dark legs contrasting with orange feet!
Throughout the morning we saw several Red-shoulderd Hawks, a Red-tailed Hawk, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. The Sharp-shinned Hawk soared over us and we got good looks at its attributes that distinguish it from the very similar Cooper's Hawk -- a squared-off tail and relatively smaller head. In the soccer fields we saw a Loggerhead Shrike, a songbird similar to Northern Mockingbirds in size and colors that actually prey on other small birds and other animals. We walked as far as the eastern-most creek crossing in the playing fields. From the creek bed there we got another look at a Greater Yellowlegs and a Wilson's Snipe. I digi-scoped this image of the snipe with my iPhone:
Even though it didn't feel like it, we actually recorded a high number of species: 49! Here's our complete bird list from the morning.
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