We had a picture perfect birding day for our September walk. We also had many interesting birds to view. Early on we spent quite some time with a wave of frustrating fall warblers. You can see what we found below, on the complete list of birds seen. They were frustrating but fun to figure out. An even more exciting treat was to come. We came across a flock of hard to find Rusty Blackbirds! Others joined the first group we found for a total of 16 birds. We watched them feeding in the brush along the trail as well as on the mud flats in the tamarack swamp. All in all, we had a terrific birding experience on this walk. Thanks to Karen Etter Hale for the great field notes!
Our September walk is the last one of the season. While this was a shortened season, it proved to be a lots of fun with great bird sightings and good companionship. We hope you can join us for our walks next season.
Bird list for the September Walk:
Glacial Drumlin State Trail--From Korth park to Rock Lake near Lake Mills,
Sep 25, 2021 8:27 AM - 11:19 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.9 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: 50F; 90% sunny; SW 5 mph (start) to 62; partly cloudy; W 10 mph (end).
Jefferson-Dodge Birding Walk. Walk from Elm Point parking lot to trestle and back
(1.8 miles total). Rusty Blackbird flock!! And a very nice feeding flock of at least
5 warbler species and both kinglet species. 6 E. chipmunks, 1 gray squirrel. A very
lovely morning to be out. (Quite a few people biking, walking, and running on the
trail.)
40 species (+2 other taxa)
Canada Goose 18 Flocks/groups of local birds flying: 12, 4, 2.
Wood Duck 2
Mallard 5
Pied-billed Grebe 7 At least 3 on the lake, 4 on the marsh.
Mourning Dove 2
American Coot 50 Actual count of the coots we could see from
the trestle that were along the bulrush in Korth Bay.
Sandhill Crane 6
Killdeer 6
Ring-billed Gull 85 At least 80 of these were off Sandy Beach.
Double-crested Cormorant1 Flying low, dropped down into Marsh Lake out of sight.
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Bald Eagle 3 Two adults soaring over Korth Park, coming close together,
separating again. Several minutes later, we saw an
immature soaring over the trail.
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Great Horned Owl 1 First heard at 9:55 a.m., well south of the trail in
the Bean Lake area. It called repeatedly, at least
10-15 times.
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 3
Yellow-throated Vireo 1 Good looks.
Blue Jay 7
American Crow 2
Black-capped Chickadee 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
swallow sp. 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 3
European Starling 3
Gray Catbird 4
American Robin 3
Cedar Waxwing 17
House Sparrow 5
American Goldfinch 7
White-throated Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1 Flyover.
Rusty Blackbird 16 A flock of 6-8 swooped into a tree not far west of the
trestle, pausing just long enough for us to get a look
before they took off. They landed on the mudflat south
of the trail, long enough for us to get much better looks
and for Marcus to get a couple of photos. They then
flushed again up into a willow tree. We all thought this
was the most exciting find of the morning - you have to
be at the right place at the right time! - when a second
flock of Rustys swooped in, and just as quickly, took
off, for a total of 16!
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
American Redstart 2
Magnolia Warbler 1
Bay-breasted Warbler 1 Nice looks, as we got with the other warblers, almost
all in one small area, along with the kinglets.
Yellow-rumped Warbler 12
Northern Cardinal 1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S95301271
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home).
Further edited by the Jefferson / Dodge Birdwalk team.
September Bird Walk - Glacial Drumlin Trail