Twelve birders attended the September Sweet Run bird walk on a Saturday morning with rain threatening all morning. Thankfully the rain held off until the end and never really amounted to much. The walk was led by Mary Ann Good, Michael Sciortino and Carol Sottili. The group recorded 31 species during the walk.

The area surrounding the visitor center was eerily subdued with only a few birds active. Wortman pond was quiet as well and was still covered with duck weed. There were no sightings of Green Herons as they most likely have migrated. The Demory Field was uneventful except for a lone Common Yellowthroat calling from the distance. Where were the birds?

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Photo by Michael Sciortino

To find out, we headed in the direction of the Farmstead Loop, and activity began to pick up slowly. Various woodpeckers were active as we quickly recorded Northern Flickers and Red-bellied, Downy, and Pileated Woodpeckers after entering the woods. We would eventually see and hear a Hairy Woodpecker and our first-of-season Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, but those came later in the walk. The Old Bridge crossing was quiet, but as we traveled up the slope toward Arnold Lane a few mixed flocks started interacting just as the sun began to poke through the clouds and trees. A few of us were able to spot a fast-moving, male Black-throated Blue Warbler as it crossed the path and move up into the treetops. Its white pocket square was plainly visible for a split second.

The junction of the Old Bridge Trail and Arnold Lane was teeming with activity in the treetops, and we had a good vantage point except that the lighting was terrible and made it difficult to make any easy identification. There were numerous White-breasted Nuthatches, Carolina Chickadees, and Tufted Titmice with a few warblers mixed in. We were able to identify a Black-and-white Warbler and a Magnolia Warbler but there were likely more. Warbler neck began to take its toll.

We made our way toward the powerline cut on Arnold and were rewarded with the sighting of two American Kestrels perched on the powerline tower. They seemed to be eyeing the European Starlings on the opposite side of the tower. Streams of Blue Jays flowed to the southwest and we saw our first Turkey Vulture of the morning. Interestingly, we did not see or hear any hawks or sparrows which are usually visible from the powerline cut. On our way back we were treated to three Wood Thrushes, darting back and forth in the brush along the Old Bridge Trail. We all got good looks as they skulked a few feet off the path. This provided us the highlight of the day. The birds were out there after all.  For a complete list of the birds observed on the walk, see the list below or view on eBird at: https://ebird.org/checklist/S275788733.

Photo by Lisa Streckfuss

Species List:
Mourning Dove 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 6
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 3
Pileated Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 2
American Kestrel 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Eastern Phoebe 2
Blue Jay 75
American Crow 10
Fish Crow 1
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 6
Carolina Wren 6
European Starling 8
Gray Catbird 4
Brown Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 4
Eastern Bluebird 6
Wood Thrush 3
American Robin 2
American Goldfinch 2
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Magnolia Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal 6

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