Horseshoe Lake today

I went to Eagle Park to see the Cinnamon Teal that the Johnsons posted to mobirds. It was a very cooperative life bird and a pleasure to see. Although the bird was close enough for a good look at it, it was far enough away that it didn’t come out especially well on the photos I took.

After visiting Eagle Park, I drove down Big Bend Rd. Numbers of Tree Swallows are increasing, and there are quite a few shovelers and Blue-winged Teal. I saw around 6 Green-winged Teal in the water just before the railroad tracks.

I drove to the dredge, but didn’t see much. Carolina Wrens were singing here and there, and I saw a couple of them on Layton Rd.

There were White-throated Sparrows in the tangle alongside the road to Gateway Sand and on Layton Rd.

Bend Rd. is still closed off at the parking lot. It is apparently closed to everyone except for park personnel and hunters. Blue Grosbeak, Bell’s Vireo, Bobolinks, White-crowned Sparrows, and Yellow-billed Cuckoos have been found along the road to the equestrian trail—I hope the park is planning to reopen that area to people who are interested in looking at birds but not in shooting them.

In the lake on the 111 side there was a Redhead close to the causeway. Many coots and a few Pied-billed Grebes were spread out in the lake, but there were no Horned Grebes that I could see.

At the Bruns-Bischoff intersection at the Bruns farm there were 6 or 9 Wilson’s Snipe on both sides of the road. They seemed unfazed by the few cars that passed, and paid little attention to me while I took photos. There was a Barn Swallow on a wire near the plantation house.

Birds in the past week

I’ve been watching for a Lincoln’s Sparrow, but although they’ve shown up in the area, I haven’t found one yet. I did see three firsts for the year on Wednesday, April 5: an Orange-crowned Warbler in Forest Park near the Victorian Footbridge in the morning and a Green Heron and a Lesser Yellowlegs near the equestrian statue in the afternoon.

Friday was a very warm day, and I found a number of birds lazing around in Forest Park, some sacked out in the dust and others doing more serious cooling off: