Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Early spring birding at Millbrook Marsh

Millbrook Marsh is a beautiful little natural area just north of Beaver Stadium. Spring Creek flows through it, providing a wonderful little habitat within city limits.

I was hoping to see at least an early Yellow Warbler or something, but I neither saw nor heard any warblers. I did see some good birds, though:
Northern Flicker
Tree Swallow (they're back!)
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Red-winged Blackbird (they've been back for a while now)
Northern Cardinal
Mallard
Song Sparrow
Eastern Phoebe
Swamp Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Carolina Wren
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
American Crow
Turkey Vulture
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Mockingbird
Bluejay
House Finch
American Goldfinch
European Starling
Rock Pigeon
House Sparrow
Common Grackle

I saw some evidence of maybe a Green Heron, or a very small Great Blue:It's hard to tell without anything for scale, but it was only a medium-sized marsh-dweller's print. Way too small for a Great Blue.

I also saw this cute little raccoon hand-print:Otherwise, I included all the bird pics with my spring post down below.

It was so nice to get out into the field again! I can't wait for more migrants to return; the Tree Swallow was a good one, but I've yet to see any of the hundreds of Chimney Swifts that usually fly over Bellefonte. It's still pretty early for us, though. Migration usually doesn't get going until late April/early May.

We've been having unusually warm (like +20 over normal temps) weather here, but I'm not sure that winter is quite done with us. It'll be interesting to see whether we get some more early migrants (or, god forbid, snow). AB and I are going to Baltimore this weekend to see some friends, so no birding (probably), but I plan to hit it hard when we get back. My new job starts Wednesday after next, so I'll have Monday and Tuesday to play around.

Until then, I hope you're seeing some good birds!

3 comments:

Felicia said...

Sounds like a great day out; I love those little footprints! Hope some good migrants head your way next week.

Earl Cootie said...

I've been reading reports of early warblers around here, but I've yet to see one.

Susan Gets Native said...

You lost me at "Beaver Stadium".