Eighteen birders gathered on a beautiful Father’s Day at Bles Park. Our local mimics (Northern Mockingbird, Gray Catbird and Brown Thrasher) were singing up a storm at numerous spots throughout the walk. Two Ospreys and an immature Bald Eagle treated us to spectacular fly overs. We got many good looks at various birds including Great Crested Flycatcher, Great Blue Heron, Tree Swallows, Black Vulture and Turkey Vulture. Other birds were harder to see including an Orchard Oriole that moved on too quickly, a handful of Wood Ducks hiding behind reeds in the marsh, and the Northern Parula that sadly was only heard and not seen.

Juvenile Red-winged Blackbird.
Photo by Bryan Henson

We talked about many other critters at Bles Park. We spotted a couple of bunnies, several dragonflies (Common Green Darners and Eastern Pondhawks), a few damselflies (Dancers and a female Ebony Jewelwing) and a Zebra Swallowtail. We chatted about Paw Paw and Sycamore trees and about the growing presence of Poison Hemlock throughout the area. One of the more fascinating birds we saw was a very young Red-winged Blackbird that was missing all the feathers around its face. We had 49 species of birds seen and a fun walk!

The full list of species seen can be found on eBird at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S141946446

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