Morning Birding Species List | September 25, 2018

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Tuesday, September 25, 2018, 8AM – 11AM
Weather: Mostly sunny
Location: Private residence east of North Star Nature Preserve, and Aspen Grove Cemetery

Species Identified

Mallard Green-winged Teal Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Steller’s Jay Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Black-billed Magpie American Crow Black-capped Chickadee Mountain Chickadee Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch American Robin House Finch Pine Siskin Chipping Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln’s Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird Yellow-rumped Warbler

Comments:

Active molting and busy foraging characterize much of the bird activity at this time. We are observing Mallards molting into their winter breeding plumage, a process that occurs with different timing for different individuals through fall into early winter. Three Green-winged Teals gave us a great chance to compare their small size with the much larger Mallards on a log at Hallam Lake.  Side by side comparisons like this are perfect for building valuable field ID experience. Our quest for Band-tailed Pigeons at the private residence did not result in any sightings of that species today, but we were able to study various sparrow species. A Downy Woodpecker gave us a good show at Aspen Grove Cemetery where it was feeding on several trees. We also noted its bill length versus head length which is a key comparison between Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. Morning Birding will shift in October to the first Tuesday of each month. Join us at Hallam Lake on October 2nd!

~ Rebecca Weiss, ACES Bird Guide 

 

Photo by Dale Armstrong