Great Backyard Bird Count Coming Up!

One of my favorite birding events is coming up February 16 - 19. The Great Backyard Bird Count is a joint citizen science project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology,  National Audubon Society, and Birds Canada. It has found its way worldwide since tallies are now submitted through eBird.

The idea is to watch birds at home, your local parks, or wherever you happen to be for 15 minutes (or more) and submit your checklists through eBird. I usually try to hit up several local parks since I do Project Feederwatch in my yard every week. I might change my mind, but right now, I am thinking I will bird Lake Wichita Park on Friday, Lake Arrowhead SP on Saturday, Wichita Bluff Park on Sunday, and Lucy Park on Monday. I might throw in some short times at Williams Park and the Circle Trail at a couple of spots that are sometimes good birding.

This is a great project for kids. Since you only need to spend 15 minutes, even the little ones can stay focused. This would also be a good project for homeschoolers.

Good birding!

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!

Good Birding on the Circle Trail

I have been out of town (another post on that later), so haven't had a chance to bird much lately but decided if I was going to do any birding in May I had better get out this morning. I decided to bird the section of the Circle Trail between Lucy Park and Williams Park. It runs along the Wichita River and is one of the prettier sections of the trail completed so far. It isn't very long, but is nicely wooded. I spent about an hour and a half walking the path, enjoying the birds.

Although the water in the river was very low, there were some good birds, to include the only belted kingfisher I have seen for a while--this drought is not kind to a lot of bird species. I watched this one for a while. He left his perch to hover above the water several times, but I never saw him dive to catch anything. I hope he is finding some fish.

I also came across a robin's nest out in the open where it is easily seen. One of the parents had just come back to feed the nestlings when I passed by--two little heads were up above the edge of the nest, begging for food.

Altogether a good little walk. The birds seen included: mallard, green heron, snowy egret, great egret, white-winged dove, Eurasian collared dove, mourning dove, rock pigeon, Mississippi kite, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, chimney swift, belted kingfisher, northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, blue jay, western kingbird, tufted titmouse, black-crested titmouse, Carolina chickadee, robin, eastern phoebe, red-winged blackbird, European starling, great-tailed grackle, common grackle, house finch, and house sparrow.

Good birding!