The weather has been great for mid-November, but there hasn't been much avian activity. On November 12, the highlights were a late season Osprey fishing on Sawmill Creek pond # 3 and a Cooper's Hawk flying across Lake Monocan.
Dark-eyed Junco (Stoney Creek)
Osprey (Stoney Creek)
Cooper's Hawk (Stoney Creek)
Eastern Phoebe (Rockfish Valley Trail)
November 15, 2011: The sunny skies finally gave way to complete cloud cover with rain forecasted for tonight and all day tomorrow. I started off hiking down to the Allen Creek Nature Preserve here in Stoney Creek, and after a while had logged 16 species, with a Hermit Thrush in the nature preserve as the hightlight of the hike at that point. There weren't a lot of birds to be seen, except for lots of Canada Geese in the lake and ponds, and I thought it would be another so-so birding day.
Dark-eyed Junco and Field Sparrow
Downy Woodpecker
Hermit Thrush
Song Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
I then drove over to the pond on the east side of Hidden Creek Drive - a good place to see ducks, and added two more species along the way. When I parked my car along the street, I heard a Red-shouldered Hawk across a large field, and it was easy to locate it as I have seen this species of hawk on the same tree many times before. I then walked down to the Hidden Creek pond, and sure enough, there were ducks - four Mallards and at least four Wood Ducks.
Red-shouldered Hawk
Mallards and a Wood Duck
As I headed back to my car, I saw some avian activity in the creek on the other side of the road - it was the birding place to be this morning. Six species of birds were bathing in the creek, and another six species were in the trees along the creek.
Yellow- and orange-tipped tail Cedar Waxwings
Cedar Waxwings
Cedar Waxwings
Eastern Bluebird and Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Goldfinch and Northern Cardinal
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-shouldered Hawks
This morning's list (26 species):
Eastern Bluebird Starling Turkey Vulture Black Vulture American Goldfinch Hermit Thrush White-throated Sparrow Song Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Mallard Wood Duck Flicker Downy Woodpecker Carolina Wren Carolina Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Northern Cardinal Canada Goose Cedar Waxwing White-breasted Nuthatch Yellow-rumped Warbler |