3rd Saturday Birding Sept 21 2024

John Sullivan led our walk on this perfect fall-like morning. Our group of 20, equipped with binoculars and cameras, met at Heron Playground in Springfield. Canada Geese flew in and landed on the lawn to help get our bird list started. We stopped by the river and observed a Spotted Sandpiper bobbing its tail as it moved on logs in the water. A Western Grebe, a less common bird for this location, was also viewed nearby. As we headed through the Eastgate Woodlands, Richard saw and photographed a Lewis’s Woodpecker flying over! Great Blue Herons posed for photos along the canal as well as at the pond in Alton Baker Park. A Green Heron teased us by flying ahead several times to stay just out of clear view.

As we walked along the river, John spotted a Peregrine Falcon perched in a distant tree. Returning through the woodlands, we stopped to enjoy a Western Tanager and a group of Cedar Waxwings feasting on Elderberries. Thank you to John Sullivan for once again leading a wonderful 3rd Saturday Bird Outing! Our list of 44 species follows.
–Eastgate Woodlands and Alton Baker Park—prairie, September 21, 2024, 7:50 AM – 11:35 AM

Canada Goose 35
Mallard 8
Common Merganser 4
Pied-billed Grebe 5
Western Grebe 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 52
Vaux's Swift 1
Killdeer 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Green Heron 1
Great Blue Heron 3
Turkey Vulture 3
Osprey 1
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-breasted Sapsucker 1
Lewis’s Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 5
American Kestrel 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Steller's Jay 3
California Scrub-Jay 7
American Crow 5
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 7
Violet-green Swallow 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Brown Creeper 6
Bewick's Wren 2
European Starling 15
American Robin 1
Cedar Waxwing 24
House Finch 3
Lesser Goldfinch 2
American Goldfinch 6
Golden-crowned Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 8
Spotted Towhee 1
Red-winged Blackbird 8
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Western Tanager 1