Great Rainy Day

When I pulled up at the Northwood Center at noon, I was greeted with a snow flurry of Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets, along with a few Black-crowned Night-Herons and Great Blue Herons that were roosting out of the wind on the lee side of Lily Lake. (click to enlarge the photo at left - the sky may look blueish in the picture but in fact it was raining at the time).

The rain held off until about 9:30 this morning, allowing us to get in an excellent 7:30 a.m. walk at the Beanery to kick off the Autumn Weekend/Bird Show. Savannah Sparrows were everywhere, 200 or more, Wilson's Snipe and Eastern Meadowlarks were in double digits, and 60 Common Loons and several Snow Geese flocks flew over. Northern Flickers, some of which were obviously exhausted from having migrated all night, were abundant in the vineyard, apparently attracted to ants (which perhaps are there because of the grapes?) Other birds of interest include a heard Winter Wren and flyover Rusty Blackbirds. Despite misty weather, raptors were flying around hunting - we saw Merlins, kestrels, Red-tailed Hawks, Cooper's Hawks and both vultures. I hear there was a well-seen Orange-crowned Warbler at Higbee. The full Beanery list is below.

It's raining on and off at present, looking like that will be the pattern through Saturday afternoon at least, but Sunday is shaping up to be a very interesting day!

Location: The Beanery
Observation date: 10/26/07
Notes: CMBO Autumn Weekend, Friday Beanery walk
Number of species: 57
Snow Goose 75
Brant 2
Canada Goose 25
American Black Duck 3
Mallard 20
Green-winged Teal 2
Common Loon 60 flyovers
Double-crested Cormorant 200
Great Blue Heron 2
Black Vulture 10
Turkey Vulture 10
Osprey 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 2
American Kestrel 5
Merlin 2
Killdeer 10
Wilson's Snipe 20
Herring Gull 25
Rock Pigeon 10
Mourning Dove 20
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 25
Blue Jay 10
American Crow 40
Tree Swallow 500
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Brown Creeper 1
Carolina Wren 5
Winter Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 500
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 60
American Pipit 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 500
Palm Warbler 10
Common Yellowthroat 5
Chipping Sparrow 20
Field Sparrow 5
Vesper Sparrow 2
Savannah Sparrow 100
Song Sparrow 5
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 10
Red-winged Blackbird 200
Eastern Meadowlark 25
Rusty Blackbird 5
Common Grackle 1
Brown-headed Cowbird 50
Baltimore Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 5