Posted by Bryant Roberts on October 13, 2001 at 21:53:38:
This was a work day so my birding was limited to an hour or so at
Eco Pond. A couple of Baltimore Orioles the Brazilian Peppers by
the parking area caused me to stop short as I approached the
entrance but quickly disappeared into the dense cover. The main
thrill came when a Merlin made an unsuccessful attempt at making
a mid-morning snack of a Palm Warbler in the cleared area west of
the pond, it then made a sharp turn to climb out over the
observation platform. The only new bird for the fall was a Sora
calling from the dead cattails in the pond. A Peregrine Falcon
circling about a hundred feet over the coastal prairie west of the
pond made a nice finish to my short trip around the the trail. Here is
the tally for that part of the morning:
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
Great Blue Heron - 1
Great Egret - 8
Snowy Egret - 9
Little Blue Heron - 17
Tricolored Heron - 3
Cattle Egret - 30
Green Heron - 3
White Ibis - 50
Black Vulture - 3
Turkey Vulture - 5
Osprey - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Sora - 1 (heard, first of season)
Common Moorhen - 9
Belted Kingfisher - 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
White-eyed Vireo - 1
Barn Swallow - 20
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 5
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Brown Thrasher - 3
Prairie Warbler - 1
Palm Warbler - 40
Northern Waterthrush - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 10
Northern Cardinal - 2
Painted Bunting - 5
Red-winged Blackbird - 10
Baltimore Oriole - 2