Today's Bird Walk

Four of us met at the MVSTA parking lot at 7:30 and drove over to the Winthrop National Fish Hatchery for a morning bird walk. Weather was windy and cool. Will we ever get reliable weather? The hatchery has lots of mature deciduous trees, a flowing body of water referred to as either Spring Creek or the Foghorn Ditch, depending on who you ask. In addition to birds a person can see young fish being reared, returning Chinook salmon and beavers that are being acclimated in the raceways until the time they are released in areas to create new ponds and wetlands where needed.

Due to the wind it was difficult to hear the singing birds and also, maybe because of the cool temperatures, not many were moving around. We were able to get great looks at Gray Catbirds, Cedar Waxwings and Song Sparrows. A MacGillivray's Warbler called from a dense willow but never showed itself. The area was overseen by a Bald Eagle roosting in a nearly dead ponderosa pine.

Despite the weather we had an enjoyable time, looking at and listening to the birds. One person was pretty new to birding and she quite enjoyed the sights and sounds.

Here is our list for the morning:
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Killdeer (heard only)
Mourning Dove (heard only)
Hummingbird sp
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Hammond's Flycatcher
American Crow
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow
House Wren
Veery (heard only)
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
MacGillivray's Warbler
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
American Goldfinch

Come join us. The next walk is June 23rd, meeting at the MVSTA parking lot at 7:30 am. If we have good weather we will try for Redstarts along the Community Trail.