May Birding at Hallam Lake 5/2/23

Woodpeckers and ruby-crowned kinglets dominated our experience this morning, with four species of woodpeckers in the cottonwoods over ACES’ driveway and kinglets everywhere all morning. The woodpeckers were observed drumming, preening, and displaying. Throughout the preserve, kinglets were active and vocal, and we were treated to several excellent observations of these birds singing and flaring their red crowns. Fox sparrows sang in several places nearby, but they remained elusive and out of sight for us. Other highlights included a Canada goose incubating on a nest, the active osprey pair, and many herons coming and going from the new heronry with its six active nests. Today’s mini lesson focused on BirdCast, a tool provided by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which shows realtime migration data as well as past and predicted migration activity on scales from national to the county level. Join us on Tuesday, May 16 for Morning Birding at Rock Bottom Ranch!

Canada Goose

Mallard

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Great Blue Heron

Osprey

Red-naped Sapsucker

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Black-billed Magpie

American Crow

Common Raven

Tree Swallow

Violet-green Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

American Robin

House Finch

Pine Siskin

Fox Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Yellow-rumped Warbler