August Bird Walk - Zeloski Marsh

An intrepid group of birders gathered for our hottest walk of the season. Bottles of water and cucumbers were made available to all walkers. Both helped with keeping our cool. So despite the heat and humidity, we had a very successful walk with a variety of birds making themselves known. One target was shorebirds and we did find some, mostly Killdeer. We were impressed by the number of Sandhill Cranes which were gathering in the marsh in preparation for migration.

We were able to observe waterfowl, shorebirds, songbirds and raptors. All in all, a very enjoyable and representative mix of birds for the transition form summer to fall. A complete list of species seen with counts is given below. As she always does, Karen Etter Hale provided us with an excellent set of field notes from which the list is taken.

If you couldn't be with us for this walk, we hope you will be able to join us for an upcoming field trip.

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Sat Aug 15, 2015 9:00 AM

Protocol: Traveling
Party Size: 7
Duration: 1 hour(s), 55 minute(s)
Distance: 1.0 mile(s)
Comments: 75; mostly sunny; W 5mph to 80; partly sunny; W 5mph. VERY hot & humid, but it was an intrepid group that joined the Jefferson-Dodge Bird Walk group and Friends of the Glacial Heritage Area. From London Rd. parking lot, walk 1 mile west and north along Hunt Wetland to overlook of Hawkins Wetland to the northeast, where there was some shorebird habitat. None of that trail (or the east-west "artesian dike") was mowed, but we were able to see the water from most of the track. 1 gray squirrel. 1 giant swallowtail, many Northern Leopard frogs on trails.

Species
33 species (+2 other taxa)

Wood Duck 12
Mallard 12
Blue-winged Teal 26
Pied-billed Grebe 4
American White Pelican 1 Flying
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 5
Green Heron 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron Flying 1
Turkey Vulture 2
Sandhill Crane 100 Or more. Small to medium flocks kept flying in, landing west of the main north-south ditch. Later, the whole group took off, and I counted exactly 100.
Killdeer 5
Greater Yellowlegs 1
peep sp. 1
Ring-billed Gull 1
gull sp. 5
Black Tern 12
Mourning Dove 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Least Flycatcher 1
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 5
Barn Swallow 4
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Gray Catbird 1
Cedar Waxwing 10
Song Sparrow 6
Swamp Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 35
Common Grackle 2
American Goldfinch 8


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