I’ve given up on adding the solitaire to the 2006 list, though it’s apparently still at the CC. The trips add up to too many miles. Seeing it 11 days ago was a real pleasure.
Forest Park birds, January 4–10
January 4
Highlights:
- Wood Duck (5)
- Great Blue Heron (1)
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1 male)
- Pied-billed Grebe (1)
January 6
On the walk in to work there were Six Gadwall (2 males, 4 females) with a flock of mallards in the water on the south side of the stone and wooden bridge near the skating rink. The grebe was near one of the boardwalks.
I walked the loop that passes the footbridge on my way out. A Carolina Wren was trilling (my first of the year) and a Song Sparrow chipping along the river. In the brush near the end of the path were some especially bright female cardinals with lipsticked bills and red gloves. Two brown creepers flew into the same tree and worked their way up the trunk and along the branches.
As I drove along the river to Deer Lake, two kingfishers flew by, calling.
January 10
A small flock of White-throated Sparrows on the slope behind the skating rink was a welcome morning sight. I decided at the last minute this afternoon to walk the footbridge loop and was treated to a loose mixed flock of juncos, 3 to 6 Song Sparrows, 2 Swamp Sparrows, a Carolina Wren (seen this time!), 8 to 12 cardinals, 2 goldfinches, and a Blue Jay.