Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Northern Parula
Location: Mohawk Park--Oxley Nature Center
Map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=211656245233415273419.0004a07cb2e04da8c017a&ll=36.225546,-95.891118&spn=0.016514,0.027509&t=h&z=15
Observation date: 4/8/11
Number of species: 31
I noticed a tremendous amount of "summer birds" that had made their way back into the area (or are passing through) during this trip to Oxley. In the past two weeks I had seen a couple of migrants coming through, starting with the group of Tree Swallows I observed over at Coot Pond in the North Woods back in mid-March. This visit had an overwhelming array of new seasonal birds.
The usual summer wading birds (Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron) were back with a vengence; it was fantastic to see the pair of Yellow-crowned Night Herons - I rarely get to see them. I am looking forward to seeing the Snowy Egrets that usually make their home at Oxley Nature Center.
As for waterfowl, I spied the same group of birds I have seen during the past few weeks (Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Coot) as well as a new addition: the Double-Crested Cormorant (in fact, I first noticed a very large group of cormorants on Lake Yahola while entering the park).
In the category of passerine birds, during the past month I have observed a couple "summer species" in the past month (Tree Swallows, Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers). This trip I was lucky enough to see single Northern Parula (though I probably heard several more)and several Eastern Bluebirds.
Canada Goose - Branta canadensis 22
Gadwall - Anas strepera 8
Blue-winged Teal - Anas discors 95
Northern Shoveler - Anas clypeata 42
Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps 2
Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus 11
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias 1
Great Egret - Ardea alba 7
Little Blue Heron - Egretta caerulea 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - Nyctanassa violacea 2
Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis 1
American Coot - Fulica americana 38
Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon 3
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 1
Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus 1
Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe 1
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata 2
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 3
Carolina Chickadee - Poecile carolinensis 4
Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor 9
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Polioptila caerulea 16
Eastern Bluebird - Sialia sialis 2
Hermit Thrush - Catharus guttatus 1
American Robin - Turdus migratorius 3
European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris 1
Northern Parula - Parula americana 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Dendroica coronata 1
Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia 7
White-throated Sparrow - Zonotrichia albicollis 2
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 9
Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus 1
Photo of Yellow-crowned Night Heron courtesy of Terry Foote, via Wikipedia.org
Photo of Northern Parula courtesy of Lana Hays, via sdakotabirds.com
-SPQ 4/9/2011
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