My last trip before school started on August 20th was to Sanborn County Park. During the afternoon of August the 17th, I visited Sanborn Park for a picnic with my family. Technically, I'd already been to Sanborn this year, on the John Nicholas Trail, but this was my first time going to the main area of the park. I wanted to walk around the parking lots and bird a bit, because there was no knowing what I might find up there - from Western Wood-Pewees to warblers to Swainson's Thrushes.
We arrived at the grassy slopes near the parking lot at about 4:30 and stationed ourselves under some trees. The only birds so far were some Band-tailed pigeons flying over, some American Crows, and Steller's Jays. There were also lots, both adults and juveniles, of Dark-eyed Juncos and American Robins on the slopes. I tried looking for Swainson's Thrushes that I could have mistaked for robins, but without luck. That day, I took my camera:
I walked up to the highest parking lot and immediately noticed a Nuttall's Woodpecker on one of the Douglas Firs. In the trees planted in the middle of the parking lot, I heard and saw a flock of around 15 Bushits. I began the normal process of checking the fall Bushtit/chickadee flock for a migrant warbler. This time, I was in luck...
I noticed a small, yellow bird darting between the branches together with the Bushtits. It took about a minute of stalking and following it to identify it as a Wilson's Warbler by its black cap and short tail, and white undertail (to rule out Yellow Warbler). It was definitely nice to start off my walk by seeing a pretty bird!
I moved on to the taller trees, where I saw and heard several Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Suddenly, I saw a slightly larger, chunkier bird move through the branches. I caught a bit of it in my binoculars, and my first reaction was Cassin's Vireo! Pishing it closer, I saw that I was mistaken, and that it was just a more common, but worn, Hutton's. The green on the head was slightly faded, making my think it was a Cassin's - a bird I'd missed in the spring, and would have been very lucky, and happy, to see now.
I then went on the trail by the campsites into the forest. Up high in the Coast Redwoods and Douglas Firs, I heard Steller's Jays, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Common Ravens. I played the Pileated Woodpecker recording several times on the phone from the Merlin app to try to get it to call back, but eventually stopped so as not to disturb it if it had heard it. For me, the Pileated Woodpecker has achieved a mystical and unknown status that its cousin, the Ivory-billed, holds to most birders. I would be absolutely thrilled to see it this year! As I was coming out on the trail, I thought I heard the calls of a Brown Creeper somewhere on a tree trunk, but I wasn't sure. A view of the trail:
And more views of the meadows:
Summary:
Birds seen: 13
New birds: 0
Big year count: 177
As I was walking back towards the picnic place, I thought that birding this way truly makes me happy. Number one: seeing nice birds, number two: learning more about those birds and watching them, and number three: enjoying nature. Even though I didn't get any lifers or yearbirds, I was still content.
That's pretty much what I said in the beginning of my post "Summer Birding." In that post, I set myself a goal to enjoy the birds and learn more about them during the summer, not just count them. I think I've achieved the goal: I thought less about the yearlist (admittedly, still quite a bit), and more about the birds. I'd like to continue that trend during the final four months of my big year, attempting to cope with the homework and projects from BASIS, as well as my extracurriculars, while I push for 200. I think I can do it, and have a good time on the way.
Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov
We arrived at the grassy slopes near the parking lot at about 4:30 and stationed ourselves under some trees. The only birds so far were some Band-tailed pigeons flying over, some American Crows, and Steller's Jays. There were also lots, both adults and juveniles, of Dark-eyed Juncos and American Robins on the slopes. I tried looking for Swainson's Thrushes that I could have mistaked for robins, but without luck. That day, I took my camera:
I walked up to the highest parking lot and immediately noticed a Nuttall's Woodpecker on one of the Douglas Firs. In the trees planted in the middle of the parking lot, I heard and saw a flock of around 15 Bushits. I began the normal process of checking the fall Bushtit/chickadee flock for a migrant warbler. This time, I was in luck...
I noticed a small, yellow bird darting between the branches together with the Bushtits. It took about a minute of stalking and following it to identify it as a Wilson's Warbler by its black cap and short tail, and white undertail (to rule out Yellow Warbler). It was definitely nice to start off my walk by seeing a pretty bird!
I moved on to the taller trees, where I saw and heard several Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Suddenly, I saw a slightly larger, chunkier bird move through the branches. I caught a bit of it in my binoculars, and my first reaction was Cassin's Vireo! Pishing it closer, I saw that I was mistaken, and that it was just a more common, but worn, Hutton's. The green on the head was slightly faded, making my think it was a Cassin's - a bird I'd missed in the spring, and would have been very lucky, and happy, to see now.
I then went on the trail by the campsites into the forest. Up high in the Coast Redwoods and Douglas Firs, I heard Steller's Jays, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Common Ravens. I played the Pileated Woodpecker recording several times on the phone from the Merlin app to try to get it to call back, but eventually stopped so as not to disturb it if it had heard it. For me, the Pileated Woodpecker has achieved a mystical and unknown status that its cousin, the Ivory-billed, holds to most birders. I would be absolutely thrilled to see it this year! As I was coming out on the trail, I thought I heard the calls of a Brown Creeper somewhere on a tree trunk, but I wasn't sure. A view of the trail:
Summary:
Birds seen: 13
New birds: 0
Big year count: 177
As I was walking back towards the picnic place, I thought that birding this way truly makes me happy. Number one: seeing nice birds, number two: learning more about those birds and watching them, and number three: enjoying nature. Even though I didn't get any lifers or yearbirds, I was still content.
That's pretty much what I said in the beginning of my post "Summer Birding." In that post, I set myself a goal to enjoy the birds and learn more about them during the summer, not just count them. I think I've achieved the goal: I thought less about the yearlist (admittedly, still quite a bit), and more about the birds. I'd like to continue that trend during the final four months of my big year, attempting to cope with the homework and projects from BASIS, as well as my extracurriculars, while I push for 200. I think I can do it, and have a good time on the way.
Good birding,
Sergey Pavlov
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