March 24 Bird Walk

Today I guided a bird walk down to the Burlington Waterfront and the Urban Reserve. The Waterfront was fairly active, with a smattering of gulls in the lake and on the rocks as well as a small flock of 10 Double-crested Cormorants. As the ice has continued to melt, the ducks have gone farther and farther out in the lake and there were none to be seen from the waterfront today. There was however a pretty good-sized flock of Cedar Waxwings hanging out in the fruiting trees lining the board walk. I searched each one for any Bohemian field marks but all were Cedars. I watched for a few minutes as they gorged on berries and eventually decided to head to the Urban Reserve.
Before I could even get to the bike path, however, I heard the distinctive "uh-uh" call of a Fish Crow! I'm used to seeing and hearing them daily around my house in southeastern PA so it always surprises me to know that they're a rarity around here. I've been hearing them around the Burlington area for the last few days and have a good feeling they'll be nesting in the area again.
After walking into the reserve, I was greeted by a quiet scene that was in stark contrast to my trips to the reserve in the spring and the fall. Rather than seeing the warblers, vireos, and other migrants dripping from the trees, there were only a few species to be seen. Aside from a loud, boisterous Pileated Woodpecker taking off, there was not much of interest to be seen. After making it to the tip of North Beach, I scanned the cove only to find a pair of Common Mergansers floating in the lake.
There may not be much moving right now, but spring migration is slowly approaching and when it hits I look forward to slowly walking the bike path in awe of the migrants flowing through the trees.

Posted on 24 de março de 2016, 09:17 PM by nsharp