Williams Park Surprise

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

I went over to Booker T. Washington elementary school this morning to meet with my Read 2 Learn 1st grader. Unfortunately, he wasn't at school today. Since I had some extra time, I went to Williams Park, which is just across Holliday Creek from the school.

Williams Park is not very big, but it has good understory for little dickey birds, and that was my focus for a quick stop. I was heading over to a brushy area near the Circle Trail. I had my eyes down, looking for little birds in the brush, and out of the corner of my eye, I say a large bird flush from a tree right on the trail. Initially, I thought it was probably a great horned owl as they are common in our area and it isn't uncommon to flush one out. It's a good thing I looked up, because it wasn't an owl, it was a mature bald eagle. We do get bald eagles here in the winter, although not in large numbers. I see them at Lake Arrowhead State Park most often, but I have seen one flying over SW Parkway, so you can observe them most anywhere.

Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared for this bird and he flew down the creek too quickly for me to get a picture with my cell phone. I did walk a ways down the trail in the direction he flew, but he apparently did not alight nearby. I did look at eBird and there is a record last year (with pictures) of a bald eagle in Williams Park.

I was at the park for 30 minutes. In addition to the eagle there was a Carolina chickadee, some dark-eyed juncos, blue jays, cardinals, great-tailed grackles, a savannah sparrow, white-winged dove, and a mourning dove.

I picked up more litter than saw birds. The main portion of the park looks good, but the edges are full of trash. I forgot to pull one of the trash bags I keep in the car to pick up litter on walks since I didn't plan to be there long, but easily picked up enough trash to fill at least one bag. There is still plenty of trash there is someone has some spare time.

BONUS: Like to draw? The Cornell University Lab of Ornithology had a webinar this week on drawing birds. I am totally incompetent when it comes to anything more complicated than a stick figure, but for those with a modicum more talent, you can see the recorded webinar here.

Good birding!