Andrew Keaveney lead our September 10th walk at Colonel Samuel Smith Park. Summer-like conditions made for a pleasant walk, but also made it difficult to find many birds. We spent our time at the pond and in the areas north of there up to the “bowl”. We were unable to spot the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron that has been the park’s star attraction for the past week. It, like most of the other birds, was hiding somewhere in the trees. There were a few cryptic fall warblers, mostly high in the trees. Andrew was able to bring some in closer with a combination of pishing and owl calls.

We ended the walk with a group total of 31 species, which is impressive under the conditions, especially without visiting the lake, where we could certainly have added a few more species. Here is the full list:

Canada Goose
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Mourning Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
European Starling
Gray Catbird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
American Goldfinch
Nashville Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Palm Warbler
Northern Cardinal

The birds were mainly high and moving quickly, so there aren’t many photos from this walk, but here are a few:

This heron snoozing in the trees was a Black-crowned Night-Heron, not the far less common Yellow-crowned we were hoping to find.