Yet another very nice day with great people and great birds at what has become a favorite location, St. Peter’s Cemetery. Eleven people turned out and we had good birds throughout the morning. The “path” under the power lines to Gulf Island Dam has fully grown up from the work they did two years ago which allowed us to walk to the dam, so we still walked down but via the “old” path from the back corner of the cemetery.
It was a hawk day, adult and immature Bald Eagle, 2 Ospreys, a Coopers flew by and a Broad-winged called, perhaps an immature, but we could not find it. The hit however was possibly a Northern Goshawk. It was to the right of the Deer Rd. entrance and there were at least two, maybe three hawks, we thought an adult with young. Except we only got partial looks due to the thick tree growth. It was big but could have been a female Coopers. Gordon Smith played his “tape” and it sounded exactly like a Goshawk. There was also a nest there but I do not think it was a Goshawk nest, too small and not woods enough. Net, we are just not 100% positive it was a Goshawk. We will need to monitor this sight some more.
Here are the 38 birds seen:
Wood Duck – 5 far across the river by the dam
Wild Turkey – 3 as we were leaving
Great Blue Heron – 1 flew over Staples!
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Cooper’s Hawk
Northern Goshawk – maybe?
Broad-winged hawk (H)
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon (Staples)
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift (Staples)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker — we think, heard only and debated Flicker or young Pileated?
Alder Flycatcher – 2 or more seen under the power lines and heard
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird – many
Red-eyed Vireo (H)
Blue Jay (H)
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing – many mostly one each time, they nest now
Yellow Warbler – 3 or more
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee – saw at least 2 or 3, heard more
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow – 4+ singing
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow – heard at least twice
Northern Cardinal (Staples)
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow (Staples)