Second Day of Ornithology Field Trips at Brinton Brook Sanctuary

We had another good day for ornithology field trips to the Brinton Brook Sanctuary. The temperature for the day pretty much stayed in the the low to mid 50’s. The day started sunny with high altitude light haze. By afternoon it had become completely overcast. A slight breeze held up all day.

Mrs. Liss’s class was the first group starting at 9 and ending the field trip at 10: 30. Mrs. Dillon’s class did the afternoon getting into the field around 12:15 PM and going to 1:15.

Here are the species that were found.

Mrs. Liss’s class

Black Vulture
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Wood Thrush (by call)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
American Redstart (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle

Mrs. Dillon’s class

Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch (by call)
Wood Thrush (by song)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Yellow Warbler (by song)
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler (by song)
Ovenbird (by song)
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow (by song)
Northern Cardinal (by song)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Baltimore Oriole
Common Grackle

The most interesting observations for both sessions was a red-bellied woodpecker nest. I had discovered the nest earlier in the morning before Mrs. Liss’s class arrived. The nest was in an old dead snag, about 50 feet in the air. We were able to observe both the male and the female coming and going to the nest. Since both birds were coming and going we speculated that their might be young already hatched in the nest.

The indigo bunting was easily observed by both groups. A male in pre-breeding plumage was singing vigorously from several easily observed posts was seen by both groups. Black vulture, eastern phoebe, chipping sparrow, white-breasted nuthatch and blackburnian warbler were birds identified that were missed the day before. Turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk, pileated woodpecker, northern parula and gold finch were birds identified the first day but missed this day.

As in the first day I was able to identify birds before and after the class visits to the Sanctuary. These included mourning dove, American crow, northern flicker, veery, red-eyed vireo, gold finch, red-tailed hawk, brown-headed cowbird and magnolia warbler.

In the two days of doing field trips 43 species of birds were identified. I am sure there were other warblers that were missed because I could not identify them by song. The warblers are often so high in the trees that the only way to identify them is by their song.