PARADISE CBC DATE, Jan 4th
In a post a couple days ago, Preston referred to a rescheduled date for the
Paradise CBC. I went back and forth on dates but finally settled on Tues, Jan
4th (glad we're not trying to do it today!). If anyone wants to come out holler
at me.
GREEN RIVER LAKE, 27 Dec
Clay Bliznick, Jeff Sole, and I covered the main lake for the CBC. VERY few
waterfowl; scattered Bonies, Common Loons, and Horned Grebes. A few Bald
Eagles. Highlight of the day was squeaking in a very tame Barred Owl that
actually responded to my hooting attempts from inside the car
(https://ebird.org/checklist/S99541625). Also a few Purple Finches and
Red-breasted Nuthatches, and a Palm Warbler, but nothing too crazy.
OTTER CREEK PARK CBC, Dec 29th
Covered the western side of Ft. Knox, which was full of berry-eating species,
in large part due to a great crop of cedar berries. Long time since I've had
over 100 Yellow-rumped Warblers in a CBC territory; also plenty of robins and
waxwings.
For those who are always debating the merits of native vs. invasive species and
the food that each supplies for birds . . . there is hardly an invasive plant
to be found out on that part of Ft. Knox. There is some Japanese honeysuckle,
but all of these birds were foraging on natives. I mentioned the cedars, but
native bittersweet, wild grapes, and winged sumac were the main other providers
of food. Also had at least 18 Purple Finches, these and cardinals were mostly
seen eating prolific seeds of tulip poplar. Soooo . . . the moral of the story
is . . . natives *can* compete with invasives for a good food supply.
Out in the farmland there was a nice flight of southbound Sandhill Cranes; most
flocks were going south but one flock was going north! Also had a Loggerhead
Shrike in that territory for the first time in several years, and the small
group of Brewer's Blackbirds has returned for at least the fifth straight
winter. Erin Knight and I watched a Cooper's Hawk dig a House Sparrow out of a
small, dead cedar tree that had fallen into the edge of a small pond. The Coop
dove down out of sight for a few seconds and emerged with the sparrow. A few
shots on my eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S99653521\
bpb, Louisville
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