It's a Crow's World

So, the transition has happened at last. It started slowly. A few more crows showed up in the park. Then a few more. Meanwhile, the Canada Geese started slowly heading for more hospitable climates. And some time in the past week or so, the Most Common Bird of Powderhorn Park™ has officially switched: from Canada Goose to American Crow. It was an orderly transition, though not a quiet one.

I know for some people the start of crow-gathering-season is not necessarily a welcome event, but I can't help but appreciate the sheer volume and personality of the crows, especially in such large numbers. Their antics and garrulousness provide endless entertainment where otherwise there may not be much interesting to observe.

Fall is coming

So, although I've been at the park regularly and observing birds there, I've neglected to update this blog in a very long time, so here again is a little recap of the past few months.

I've noticed a couple things about this year compared with last:

First, we had very few warblers coming through during the spring. I think I had a total of 8 warbler species, and for most of those I only saw a single bird of the species. I did see my first-ever Ovenbird at Powderhorn Park in June, which raised the total to 9 for the year, and it appears that the fall migration may bring a few more warblers our way. I've already added several additional species for the year (though they haven't showed up at Powderhorn Park yet): Black-and-white, Canada (a new species for me as well), Chestnut-sided, and Wilson's.

Secondly, it seems that heron numbers are down a bit at the lake compared to last year. I've seen a great blue heron regularly, but great egrets are rare, and green herons are basically non-existant this year. For a while, I was seeing a black-crowned night-heron or two regularly, but they also disappeared for quite a while this summer.

Some other less-common birds seen at the park since last update: Eastern Screech-Owl, Indigo Bunting, Belted Kingfisher, Eastern Kingbird, and Cedar Waxwing.

Nests

Over my lunch hour, I took my usual walk around the park. I had seen bluebirds for each of the past two mornings and heard some bluebird twittering from the north end of the park. Following the sound led me to a bluebird nest, with both parents bringing food to a nest cavity near the upper playground. Also in that area, I discovered a White-breasted Nuthatch nest cavity.

Since it's been a while since my last post, I'll just include a brief list of some of the notable species I've seen in the last couple of weeks (species I've never seen before marked with a *, species that i've not seen at powderhorn before marked with a +). Notice the relatively large number of flycatchers and unfortunately low numbers of warblers:

• black-crowned night-heron
• cooper's hawk
• spotted sandpiper
• chimney swift
• olive-sided flycatcher
• eastern wood-pewee+
• yellow-bellied flycatcher*
• least flycatcher
• great crested flycatcher
• blue-headed vireo*
• red-eyed vireo
• eastern bluebird
• swainson's thrush*
• orange-crowned warbler
• nashville warbler
• american redstart
• common yellowthroat
• lincoln's sparrow
• white-crowned sparrow+
• baltimore oriole+

A few more warblers

Well, a few other warblers besides yellow-rumped warblers are finally coming through the park. They're not particularly easy to see due to the amount of leaves that are already out, nor are they particularly numerous yet, but in the last couple of days I've seen yellow-rumped (obviously), orange-crowned, and palm warblers. This morning I saw a lone Northern (I think) waterthrush (also a warbler, though a rather drab one).

Besides warblers, I've been seeing the spotted sandpipers regularly, and this morning I saw my first white-throated sparrows of the year at the park -- at least 20 of them feeding on the hillside below the tennis courts.

Solitary Sandpiper

It came back after the craziness of May Day (which was wonderful, of course):

A new sandpiper

In a brief walk around the lake this morning, I noticed two small sandpipers. However, they weren't the Spotted Sandpipers I've been seeing for the last couple of days, they were Solitary Sandpipers -- another bird I hadn't yet seen at the park before. I also saw a few yellow-rumped warblers and a couple of ruby-crowned kinglets after having not seen them in over a week. It feels like the warbler wave is going to start hitting fairly soon.

Ducklings!

First mallard ducklings of the year spotted on the north side of the lake near the reeds around noon.