[bcbirdclub] Birding the Breaks
- From: "David and Susan Raines" <rainbrk@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "BCBC Listserve" <bcbirdclub@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:43:39 -0400
Saturday was designated as International Migratory Bird Day for the Breaks
Park. I was asked to lead a morning bird walk beginning at the Visitor's
Center. Unfortunately, with the threat of rain & competition from other
activities in the area, only my birding companion, Don Carrier, showed up. We
were joined a little later by my wife Susan. The weather didn't seem to bother
the birds at all. We started out with a bang,finding a gorgeous Blackburnian
Warbler singing from the tree-tops near the Visitor's Center. We went on to
have 10 species of warblers for the day. Surprisingly, we did not find the
Swainson's or Blue-winged that I had found a couple of days previous. Don
spotted a couple of ducks on the lake that ended up being 2pr of Blue-winged
Teal. That is a pretty rare find for Laurel Lake. While Susan birded with us,
we found a nesting pair of Phoebes in the same location as last year & the
Towhees near the canyon rim behind the Hotel. It looks like Ovenbirds &
Black&White Warblers are once again the most numerous of the nesting Wood
Warblers in Breaks Park as we heard them everywhere. Rain blew in around 10:00
which caused us to do some birding by car, hopping out when we saw or heard
something.
During a lunch break at our house, Don & I picked up several species for our
day list including: White-eyed Vireo, Rough-winged Swallow,Orchard Oriole,
White-crowned & White-throated Sparrow , Ruby-throated Hummingbird , Wood
Thrush& House Finch.
Roger & Lynda Mayhorn presented an excellent slide-show of Migratory birds in
the Visitor's Center & Roger even got in on a little birding from the parking
lot of the VC. While he and I were enjoying looks at that male Blackburnian
Warbler(yes,it seems to be hanging out at the VC again this yr.), Roger
identified a Yellow-throated Vireo in the same tree! That made it a 4 Vireo
day-Red-eyed, Blue-headed & White-eyed to go along with it. Another surprise
find was a Brown Creeper spotted by Don near the Horseback Riding Area. All in
all, with the rainy day we were able to compile a list of 53 birds. Not bad
considering we only had 1 raptor(a Turkey Vulture) on our list.
DaveR/Breaks
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