I arrived at the Curtis Parking Area for Phelps this morning at 7:15. As I
was putting on my rubber boots, I heard loud noise behind the trees edging the
parking lot and the preserve. A LARGE black bear came out of the brush and
stopped in the middle of the road by the parking about 50 ft away. It stopped
in
the middle of the road, sat up and grunted and sniffed multiple times and
then went on across the road and into the woods to the west. I just about left
but decided to walk on down the road aways. Immediately in the trees and scrub
trees close to the parking I saw a good pocket of birds and picked out Black
throated green, American Redstart, Magnolia, and Pine warblers. A nice little
flush to start the walk. The bear was already becoming a faint memory.(As I was
walking out, I met a jogger with his dog, who asked me if I saw the 500lb bear
that had been seen there for a week or so). It turned out it wasn't a pocket
of birds. There were birds on both sides of the road from the parking to where
you start down the hill to the water and blinds. Its probably the most fall
migrants I've ever seen there. I observed probably 5% of the total birds seen
and numbers were high. Close to the parking I met 2 ladys from Germany birding
and we went most of the way towards the water together which was interesting.
Even more eyes would have been better. An incredible morning until about 9:15
when the breeze picked up and I didn't see another bird for 30 min., leaving
at 9:45. The species and #'s follow. Some of the highlites were 2 Turkeys, 2
Connecticut Warblers, a total of 35 Ruby Crowned Kinglets, An overhead Merlin,
a
Broadwinged hawk coming within nanoseconds of nailing a BlueJay, stopping
short when it saw me. There was not a single active bird by the water or the
whole lowlands. I didn't see a single B/G Gnatcatcher or Robin.
Warblers:
Black throated Green-26
American Redstart-11
Magnolia-14
Black and White-15
Blackburnian-4
Cape May-6
Pine-12
Parula-22
Hooded-3
Chestnut-sided-14
Connecticut-2
Common Yellowthroat-7
Nashville-3
Palm-5
Ruby Crowned Kinglet-35+(everywhere)
White-eyed Vireo-5
Red-eyed Vireo-9
Turkey-2
Red-breasted Nuthatch-1
Scarlet Tanager-6
Baltimore Oriole-3
Barred Owls calling
Merlin-1
Broad-winged Hawk-1
Blue Jay-130+
Catbird-30+
Indigo Bunting-8
Yellow-billed Cuckoo-1
Eastern Phoebe-5
Eastern Wood Pewee-2
Flycatcher sp-2(no singers)
Dave White Zion Crossroads (There was a Great Egret in the
drainage ponds at the intersection of hwy 28 & 234 Saturday at 6:45pm)
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