Campus Bird Walk

My Friday bird walk around the campus turned out to be much more popular than I expected: 25+ students turned up to participate. Unfortunately, it was another windy morning and so very few birds were visible in tree tops or on the ground. The only perching birds we saw along the nature trail were Brown-headed Cowbirds, Northern Cardinals and Northern Mockingbirds. Birds on the ground were Mourning Doves and European Starlings.

Luckily the windy conditions brought plenty of flyovers: Mourning and White-winged Doves, Great Egrets, Great Blue Heron, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Red-winged Blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackles, Killdeer and Purple Martins. Also, the Purple Martin nesting gourds had lots of activity for the students to watch from only a few yards away.

When the students  left at the end of the walk, I stayed behind for ten minutes. Almost immediately a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher flew in to perch over the trail.

Within moments a pair of Western Kingbirds came to perch nearby and they chattered away for several minutes.

Then as I neared the entrance to the nature trail, a very young Northern Mockingbird hopped onto the boardwalk ahead of me.

A parent flew in and watched anxiously from the boardwalk rail until the youngster managed to jump down and disappear into the grass beside the trail.

It's a pity the students didn't get to see the flycatchers and the Mockingbirds!
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