April 2005
They’re coming in, and they’re singing
Monday, April 11, 2005
Two newcomers this morning in Tower Grove Park: 1 Nashville Warbler (in the bird garden) and 2 Chimney Swifts (above the open area between the bird garden and the oak grove). White-throated Sparrows are singing, as are Field Sparrows and thrashers, and I’m hearing voices I don’t recognize.
Flickers are turning up in pairs. Sapsucker numbers seem to have dwindled.
This afternoon in Lafayette Park I counted at least 10 Brown Thrashers in one large bush. There were a few juncos in the park, a flock of Field Sparrows, and a Swamp Sparrow. Still no Lincoln’s Sparrow.
Forest Park, Sunday birds
Sunday, April 10, 2005
The Saint Louis marathon was well underway when I got to Forest Park this morning, and roads through the park were blocked. This being Saint Louis, there was no signage warning that any of the roads ahead were closed, so I had to do a bit of turning around and backtracking. I really must make it a weekly practice to read Get Out.
One of the reasons I enjoy birding in Forest Park is the variety of activity—cycling, rollerblading, jogging—going on around me while I bird. And the birds seem oblivious to it all.
Killdeer
I very nearly trod on a Killdeer’s nest as I walked through an unmowed area off Grand Drive in the direction of the Victorian footbridge. It was toward the end of nearly 2 hours spent in the park, and my mind was wandering, so it was a few moments before I realized that the voice of a calling Killdeer wasn’t becoming more distant, but rather, closer. I looked down and saw her a few feet in front of me, crouched in the grass with her left wing extended and her tail fanned. Not more than 2 feet in front of me was a nest with 4 brown-spotted eggs in it. If I had kept walking I would have destroyed the eggs.
The mother’s distress was very moving, and I quickly turned and walked away. My worry is that the park maintenance crew will decide in the next week or so to mow that area of the park. Would the mother allow herself to be killed, or would she fly rather than be mowed down?
Raptors
I was hoping for a view of one of the nesting Red-tailed Hawks and wasn’t disappointed. For the first time in several weeks I saw activity at the nest. It’s been one month since I first saw a hawk on the nest. According to the Stokeses, incubation is from 28 to 35 days. We could be seeing hawklets soon.
There was an adult Cooper’s Hawk in a tree on the shore of the pond on Lindell, where I had gone to look for night-herons.
An American Kestrel was hunting near the Franz Sigel statue.
Shorebirds
I continue to find shorebirds hard to identify. There were 3 this morning on a mudflat along the bike trail. One was clearly a Lesser Yellowlegs, and one of the others probably was. I couldn’t confidently identify the third bird. Shorebirds are for me the baffling little brown jobs that sparrows are for some.
Herons
I saw only 2 herons this morning, a Green in the marsh near the Franz Sigel statue and a Little Blue in one of the marshes along the bike trail.
Some city birds and the state of city parks
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Birds
On Friday morning I saw my first Green Heron of the year in Forest Park. Saturday turned up a male Yellow-rumped Warbler in Tower Grove Park. There are still Dark-eyed Juncos around, although in small numbers, here and there. I’ve seen few White-throated Sparrows, and no White-crowned yet in Lafayette, Forest, or Tower Grove Parks. Swamp Sparrows seem to be spreading out a bit in Forest Park, and there’s been at least one in Lafayette Park for about a week. Still no Lincoln’s Sparrows.
Parks
Yesterday I took a quick walk through Lafayette Park. It was a work day in the park and wasn’t especially good for birding. It’s good though to see the park being planted and tended by neighbors.
I visited Benton Park last weekend for the first time in at least a year, and it was clear that it would benefit from similar efforts. It was squalid, with trash strewed throughout the park and muck and litter in the lake.
Tower Grove Park’s bird garden is littered with beer bottles and junk food wrappers. I suspect that some of the paper litter is scattered by animals, but I doubt that they’re pulling bottles out of the trash bins. The trash in the park isn’t so bad that an organized volunteer effort is needed—I need to resume my pick-up-a-little-bit-everytime-I-go project.
March roundup
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
March 25. While on the way to the Ozarks, I stopped at the Shaw Nature Reserve (going only around 1 ½ miles out of my way, I saved an 80-mile round trip), to see whether I could find Pine Warblers and Pine Siskins in a short walk near Pinetum Lake. I heard Pine Warblers singing as I approached the lake and could see small birds flying from the cypresses to bushes and trees west of the lake. One male obligingly perched close by, threw back his head, and sang loudly. I was close enough to see his throat fluttering. My first Northern Rough-winged Swallow of the year soared and dipped over the lake. I was unable to find any siskins.
March 26. I returned from the Ozarks late in the day and so missed the Goshawk that a friend found in Tower Grove Park, but I was able to relocate the Louisiana Waterthrush in the creek where Dave Becher found it while he was leading the Saturday WGNSS trip.
March 27. My first Brown Thrasher of the year showed up in Lafayette Park.
March 28. After not seeing any in the park for several weeks, 2 Pied-billed Grebes were near the Grand Drive bridge in Forest Park. In Lafayette Park, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker paused long enough to sip sap.
March 30. I was thrilled to find an American Woodcock on the lawn on the north side of the flagstone walk at Lafayette park this morning. The bird was out in the open in good light. It flew to the shubbery bordering the path, but I was able to track it and find it when it finally flew to the pines north of the path. The only other woodcocks I’ve seen were either in their display flights or speeding into the underbrush after taking me by surprise. This bird bobbed as it walked and fanned its tail and raised it over its back. It blended in well with the pine needle litter beneath the trees and was hard to see, even though I knew where it was. It was fascinating to watch it angle itself as I moved, its back always toward me so that it could keep me in view.
March 31. As I walked to the car after work, I saw my first Black-and-White Warbler of the year between the Victorian footbridge and wooden bridges. And, a quick detour through the parking lot behind O’Connell’s Pub on my way home from the Hill a couple of hours later turned up 2 female Purple Martins (and a starling) at the nest boxes—a good end to the month.
