Indigo Bunting.
Photo by John Denice

The best part of the bird walk led by John Denice and Bruce Hill at the Broad Run Stream Valley Park on August 17, was finding 49 species of birds. For mid-August, that’s a high number.  Under cloudy skies, there were  a lot of noisy airplanes flying over us,  especially at the beginning of the walk.  This time we met in a new location: the parking lot behind Paris Baguette.  It was a great spot to meet as it provided easy access to the park and some of us hit the bakery either before or after the walk.

Right at the beginning of the walk the group found a few Killdeer and some Eastern Kingbirds.  At the pond near the parking lot, we saw a Great Blue Heron and six Mallards before heading through the tunnel under the road to the park. While birding was a bit slow at first, we did see a Nuthatch, some Northern Cardinals and American Goldfinches.  As we walked along the back edge of the park, we saw Eastern Wood-Pewees, got a good look at a Red-eyed Vireo, a juvenile Northern Flicker, and some Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.  Some of the best birding was at the long pond where we saw an American Kestrel, a Cooper’s Hawk (that flew almost right above us), a Bald Eagle, a Common Raven, two Green Herons that posed for us, a Spotted Sandpiper, a Wood Duck, and got good looks at an Indigo Bunting, a Field Sparrow and some Cedar Waxwings.

A complete list of birds seen during the walk can be viewed on eBird at:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S191803937

Green Heron.
Photo by Gerco Hoogeweg

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