June 22: Bird Census Results

We had a beautiful, cool summer day for today's bird census. The main pad roads off of Wildlife Drive are still closed awaiting cleanup and repairs. We walked to the photo blind on Harris Creek Trail and saw the resident Red-headed Woodpeckers, a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher and numerous Painted and Indigo Buntings. There was also a singing Orchard Oriole there. In the field on the left just after we turned onto Wildlife Drive we saw a good number of Killdeer, a bird that has been unusually scarce this year, up until now. There we also found a Willet a large shorebird that you usually don't see here in early summer. As we proceeded down Wildlife Drive we saw a Wood Duck sitting in a dead tree near the entrance to Plover Pad. We saw a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron on the road to Meadow Pond and a couple of Green Herons at Meadow Pond. The Lotus at the far end of Meadow Pond are now blooming nicely. There was a Prothonotary Warbler singing at the low water crossing on Bennett. The approaches to that low water crossing have been repaired but it is still covered by some water. The young Barn Owls were still in the maintenance shed. We finished the day with 70 species. Today's photos: Neotropic Cormorant showing the green eye and the V shaped white feathers below the eye and the lack of yellow on the lores which distinguishes it from the Double-crested Cormorant, a Snowy Egret showing off its yellow toes, an Indigo Bunting and a Greater Roadrunner.