Mason Farm Biological Reserve -- 29 March 2009

Avian Biology (BIOL 476L), Haven Wiley

Road and beaver pond north of the ford

8:15-10:45, warm and mostly calm (but lots of energy in the sky)

Morgan Creek was way over its banks and flooding 8-10 meters of the road, after two rainy weeks and several preceding days of rain.

See notes on special observations at the bottom!

ANSERIFORMES
Wood Duck 2 flying east high
PELICANIFORMES
Double-crested Cormorant 4 flying southward high over the golf course
FALCONIFORMES
Turkey Vulture 10 enjoying the dry breezy weather
Black Vulture 2 first soaring late in the morning
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 including one circling overhead calling
CORACIIFORMES
Belted Kingfisher 1 calling over the beaver pond
PICIFORMES
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1 male with its flank feathers covering the white mark on its wing!
Downy Woodpecker 1 whinnying
Northern Flicker 1 calling keea and then flying past
PASSERIFORMES
NEW WORLD FLYCATCHER FAMILY
Eastern Phoebe 1 in the scope!
JAY AND CROW FAMILY
Blue Jay 2
American Crow none!
Fish Crow 2 with nasal calls (one had been raiding a dumpster!)
TITMOUSE FAMILY
Carolina Chickadee 6 including several singing briefly but clearly
Tufted Titmouse 8 with lots of singing
CREEPER FAMILY
Brown Creeper 1 way up in a big tree beside the creek
WREN FAMILY
Carolina Wren 8 with lots of singing
KINGLET FAMILY
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8 including several singing incomplete songs
OLD WORLD WARBLER FAMILY
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1 heard buzzing high in a tree beside the creek -- just once
MIMIC FAMILY
Northern Mockingbird 1 singing near the golf team's building
STARLING FAMILY
European Starling 20 perched on the high power lines -- quiet
WAXWING FAMILY
Cedar Waxwing still frequenting the tree beside Wilson Hall (3/27)
NEW WORLD NINE-PRIMARIED FAMILIES
WOOD-WARBLER FAMILY
Yellow-rumped Warbler 20 but still no brightly plumaged males
Common Yellowthroat 1 sang briefly beside the beaver pond
NEW-WORLD SPARROW FAMILY
Eastern Towhee 8 including a few songs and chwink calls
Field Sparrow 3 in bushes beside the golf course got away quickly
White-throated Sparrow 30 in thickets beside the golf course
Swamp Sparrow 3 in plain view catching insects on mud beside the beaver pond
Song Sparrow 1 with the Swamp Sparrows -- a nice comparison
CARDINAL FAMILY
Northern Cardinal 12 with some singing
BLACKBIRD, MEADOWLARK, ORIOLE FAMILY
Red-winged Blackbird 1 male atop cattails and willows beside the beaver pond -- singing but not showing its red wing-coverts much
FINCH FAMILY
House Finch 1 singing near the golf team building
American Goldfinch 12 including 3 males on the ground with mostly yellow plumage

OTHER VERTEBRATES

American Toad 8 or more singing in choruses in the beaver pond
Upland Chorusfrog 6 or so in a small chorus creaking in a flooded ditch
Pickerel Frog 3 or more with calls like a finger across a balloon
Eastern Mud Turtle 2 crossing the road (unfortunately one had not made it!)
Yellowbelly Slider
River Cooter 		20 big ones on logs in the beaver pond and a smaller one crossing the road -- some were probably River Cooters
American Beaver lodge and dam did not look like they were being maintained
Muskrat 1 swimming toward us and then disappearing (presumably into its burrow)

NOTES

Only two long-distance migrants (from Florida or the Caribbean) ... a Common Yellowthroat and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, neither of which gave us a chance to see them.   The numbers of Ruby-crowned Kinglets suggested that they were migrating too.

The Red-shouldered Hawk circling over the beaver pond and Morgan Creek, with its distinctive call, was advertising its territroy, just like all the Carolina Wrens, Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, and Carolina Chickadees.

The Swamp Sparrows feeding on minute insects on a patch of mud beside the beaver pond gave us clear looks and comparison with a nearby Song Sparrow.   We noticed that while feeding they flicked their wings upward repeatedly, as if they were nervous.   Because they stopped the wing movements when they stopped feeding, they might have been flushing the little insects on the mud so they could find them and catch them more easily.