Sunday, August 30, 2009

Wonderful Morning at Lake Wichita

I suppose the morning could have been more perfect, but this morning at Lake Wichita between 7 AM and 9AM was wonderful. The weather was pleasant and there were some good birds. I walked the Chat trail, around the tank and took the trail to Murphy's Mound and then came back.

There are still one or two birds I am researching, in hopes of finding a recording of their sounds, since I didn't get a good look at the birds themselves, but here are the birds I am sure of: American kestrel, great egret, snowy egret, Canada geese, scissor-tailed flycatcher, northern cardinal, Carolina chickadee, ruby-throated hummingbird, black-chinned hummingbird, mallard ducks, blue-winged teal, red-winged balckbird, European starling, Eurasian collared dove, mourning dove, white-winged dove, pied-billed grebe, barn swallow, yellow warbler (somewhat early for this one), orchard oriole, Bullock's oriole, great-tailed grackle, killdeer, robin, and blue jay.

On my way home, I saw a flock of pigeons and some common grackles.

The poor blackbirds are looking bedraggled. Most have lost their tails to the fall molt and others have only one or two feathers sticking out at odd angles.

It appears there will be plenty of food for birds passing through or staying the winter. There are lots of sunflowers, thistles and other grasses, fruit trees, etc. The red-winged blackbirds were going crazy with the sunflowers today.

All in all, a super morning.

Good birding!

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