Thursday, April 03, 2008

Birding with Renee

Yesterday I went birding for about an hour with my friend Renee in Loftridge Park. Small park but good birding. We had a five woodpecker day:
Red-bellied, yellow-bellied sapsucker, downy, hairy and flicker.
We were in search of pileated, often seen there, but they wouldn't come out and play.
The sapsuckers put on a good show, though!

Below is the best of my hairy pictures. Once you've actually seen a hairy, you wonder why there was ever any doubt compared to a downy? The head is massive compared to a downy and the beak is so looong! We also checked out a possible nest hole.


We also saw brown creepers (pictured below).


We also saw:
hermit thrush
chickadees
titmice
cardinals
goldfinch
blue jays
swamp sparrow
song sparrow

(It was definitely a swamp sparrow, but not in a particularly swampy part of the woods. We think the wind, which was pretty strong, forced it down between swamps.)
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2 comments:

Larry said...

Sounds like a nice day out! A five woodpecker day is a good day and agree with you about the Hairy Woodpecker statement.-They look so massive with their bill and all compared to the downy yet I used to be confused between the two.

Anonymous said...

My rule concerning Hairy's and Downy's is, "If you have to ask, it's a Downy."
Vern