This morning I went to Tower Grove Park to see whether it would be as birdy as it was reported to be yesterday. I wasn’t disappointed.
The day started out humid and hazy. After insufficient sleep last night, I was feeling hazy, and my binocular action was a bit slow. The atmospheric, if not the mental, haze burned off fairly quickly, though, and viewing conditions were excellent.
There were twelve species of warbler in and around the bird garden, including several Golden-winged Warblers (I saw only two; others saw as least three). I feel lucky when I see one of those in a year; seeing multiple individuals of the species throughout the morning was a treat.
I saw a vireo that I tentatively identified as a Philadelphia, but I had to wait to verify the ID (none of us had a field guide at hand!). Another birder later took a photo of a vireo that turned out to be a Philadelphia. After I got home, a check in Sibley of underside yellow distribution confirmed that the one I saw was indeed a Philadelphia. I missed the Blue-headed Vireo others saw. None of us saw a Plumbeous.
The list
This is my list. Others saw additional species.
- Mourning Dove
- Chimney Swift
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Great Crested Flycatcher
- Downy Woodpecker
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Eastern Wood Pewee
- Empid
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Philadelphia Vireo
- Chickadee sp.
- European Starling
- Veery
- Wood Thrush
- American Robin
- Gray Catbird
- Northern Parula
- Blue-winged Warbler
- Golden-winged Warbler
- Chestnut-sided Warbler
- Black-throated Green Warbler
- Magnolia Warbler
- American Redstart
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Bay-breasted Warbler
- Canada Warbler
- Ovenbird
- Common Yellowthroat
- Northern Cardinal
- Common Grackle
- Baltimore Oriole
- American Goldfinch
It was good to be out and good to see people. I needed to put birding aside for much of this year, especially this summer, to do other things that needed doing. So hard sometimes to keep everything in balance.
I can hardly wait for the sparrows.