Date: January 16, 2000

Time: 8:15-11:00 AM

Forest edge and fields -- loop road around Big Oak Woods and wet areas at south end

Chilly, partly sunny, light SW breeze

CICONIIFORMES
Great Blue Heron	1	flying and perched on a tall snag
FALCONIFORMES
Red-tailed Hawk	1	sailing motionless in head wind
Red-shouldered Hawk	1	calling from swamps southeast of BOW
CHARADRIIFORMES
Ring-billed Gull	2	in flight overhead
PICIFORMES
Northern Flicker	2	in flight with yellowish wings and white rump [Common or Yellow-shafted Flicker]
Pileated Woodpecker	1	called southwest of BOW
Red-headed Woodpecker	1	on east side of BOW -- maybe a sign that this species has returned to MFBR!
Red-bellied Woodpecker	4
Downy Woodpecker	4	no Hairy Woodpeckers
PASSERIFORMES
JAY AND CROW FAMILY
Blue Jay	1
American Crow	4
CHICKADEE FAMILY
Carolina Chickadee	6	several small groups or pairs
Tufted Titmouse	2
WREN FAMILY
Carolina Wren	6	two sang briefly
MIMIC FAMILY
Northern Mockingbird	2
Brown Thrasher	1
THRUSH FAMILY
American Robin	10	in flight overhead
Hermit Thrush	3	including one feeding on privet berries
Eastern Bluebird	2
KINGLET FAMILY
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	never sat still, neither showed a red spot
WAXWING FAMILY
Cedar Waxwing	20	atop trees on east side of BOW
CARDINAL FAMILY
Northern Cardinal	15	some banded!
SPARROW FAMILY
Rufous-sided Towhee	6	both sexes
Dark-eyed Junco	30	in flocks with White-throated Sparrows
Field Sparrow	10	in bushy fields
White-throated Sparrow	100	along edges of roads
Fox Sparrow	2
Swamp Sparrow	20	skulking in wet fields, one or two good looks!
Song Sparrow	20	pumping their tails in flight
BLACKBIRD FAMILY
Red-winged Blackbird	40	one flock -- all females!
Rusty Blackbird	60	at least two flocks in swampy places -- some birds with lots of rusty -- some with none!
FINCH FAMILY
American Goldfinch	2

NOTES

Good looks at two species of blackbirds.   Why do Red-winged Blackbirds often separate into single-sex flocks for the winter?   Why is there so much variation in the appearance of Rusty Blackbirds?

A Red-headed Woodpecker is good news! We have missed them the last two years at Mason Farm.   Presumably competition from European Starlings for nesting holes has gotten stiffer as dead trees in old beaver ponds fall.

The adult Red-tailed Hawk suggests that they might nest in Big Oak Woods again this year.   Maybe we should stomp around in the swamps to the southeast to find the Red-shouldered Hawks' nest too!