When Nate and I went to Iowa back in February to look at Bald Eagles, I warned him that birding could be addictive. He spent about 10 minutes explaining to me why it would never hook him. And now look …
We spent the the morning of Saturday, April 17 birding at Baker’s Lake, Crabtree Nature Center and Moraine Hills State Park. It was a beautiful, but chilly, day with a stiff wind out of the north, which made it a great day for a walk but a lousy day to see birds. We didn’t see many types of birds, and of the ones we did see, there weren’t many individuals. On a day when we easily should have spotted at least 50 birds, we only saw 33. But there were a few good sightings and we had fun so who cares, really?
Here’s our list in the appoximate order that we saw them:
- American White Pelican
- American Robin
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Great Egret
- Great Blue Heron
- Mallard
- Northern Shoveler
- Black-crowned Night Heron
- Downy Woodpecker
- Tree Swallow
- Common Grackle
- American Goldfinch
- Red-winged Blackbird
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- European Starling
- Hooded Merganser
- Wood Duck
- Northern Flicker
- Northern Cardinal
- Ring-necked Duck
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- Gadwall
- Common Merganser
- Ruddy Duck
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Turkey Vulture
- Blue-winged Teal
- Pine Warbler
- American Crow
- Mourning Dove
The highlight of the day wasn’t a bird. At Crabtree, we spotted a Mink running through the brush along the shore of Bullrush Pond.
That was a ton of fun! I can’t wait to go back out.