May 10 Ornithology Field Trips to Brinton Brook Sanctuary

The weather cooperated today for our ornithology field trip to the Brinton Brook Sanctuary. The weather started in the low 50’s and worked it way up into the upper 50’s. There was a strong fairly steady breeze from the Northwest and it was mostly clear sky.

There were two field groups, Mrs. Zabbia’s class that was in the field from 9 to 10: 30 in the morning and Mrs. Barkan’s class that was afield from 12:15 PM to about 1.

Here are the species that were found.

Mrs. Zabbia’s class

Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker (by call)
Pileated Woodpecker (by call)
Blue Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush (by call)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Yellow Warbler (by song)
Black-throated Green Warbler (by song)
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart (by song)
Ovenbird (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle

Mrs. Barkan’s class

Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker (by call)
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay (by call)
Tufted Titmouse
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Parula (by song)
Yellow Warbler (by song)
Black-and-White Warbler (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow (by song)
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (by song)
Indigo Bunting
Baltimore Oriole
Gold Finch (by song and call)

Because of time constraints Mrs. Barkan’s class did not get as far as Mrs. Zabbia’s class and missed out on the pond habitat. There were several species found only at the pond. These included the two kinds of swallows, the red-winged blackbird and the common grackle. It was rather unusual to have such a number of barn swallows coursing about the pond hunting for insects. It is more common to see tree swallows doing that and we did not see a single tree swallow. The morning group had a good look at a couple of black-and-white warblers, but the afternoon group only heard them. The afternoon group had some great views of Baltimore orioles and indigo buntings, both birds completely missed in the morning.

I was able to use a new device that I had just purchased from Wild Birds Unlimited in Saratoga, an I Flyer bird song player. This hand held “wand” scans a bar code for species found in the I Flyer BarCode ScanBook and then plays a good quality reproduction of that species’ call or song. This is a handy tool in teaching bird songs. Since many of the birds were identified just by the calls or songs that we heard knowledge of bird songs is important. Check the links below to both Wild Birds Unlimited and I Flyer.

After the second class finished and left I spent a little more time along the trail from the road to the pond. I picked up a few other species that were not seen or heard by either group. These included and eastern phoebe by it’s song, a Carolina wren along the roadway near the houses and two mallard ducks at the pond. In addition I was able to observe both the northern parula and the American redstart.

It will be interesting to see what the Tuesday classes will find.