Went owling before the count and was able to get/call in 2 Great Horned Owls, 2 Barred Owls, and 1 Screech Owl, all of them from the park property, which is not always easy - off to good start.
The morning started out very slow (a little cold), but as the day got later, the birds got better.
There was no tally, so I do not know what others groups may have. I know ours had some good birds.
Some pictures from the day:
Sandhill Cranes in Salt Air (name of small town),
I spotted a distant raptor that looked different from the many kestrels we were seeing (both a good thing). We stopped, got closer looks and confirmed a Merlin (also later saw bird in flight). This was outside of Bethel on country roads. Not a good photo, but better than my other pic of a merlin that was right in front of me (my old crappy camera).
Many raptors. Some of our group's better birds were:
1 Rusty Blackbird
Sandhill Cranes
A Merlin
Harriers
A male Purple Finch
2 Fox Sparrows
May be missing something. Tweet
Donald:
ReplyDeleteI had to work and so missed the east Fork CBC. Where did you get the merlin (and the harrier) in our area? I would love to find them.
~Kathi
You know, I don't know for sure. I guess we got too excited to mark the location. I am wanting to say Swope Rd. South of Bethel for some reason, but don't know for sure. It was high up in a tree in someone's front yard, then flew to a far away tree on the side of the rd.
ReplyDeleteShoot, I drive by Swope Rd every day! I will have to look more closely at all the Kestrels I see on 133, in case one of them is really a Merlin in disguise.
ReplyDelete~Kathi