Posted by John Boyd on April 05, 2004 at 18:44:35:
We had a good-sized group of 17 birders for Sunday's walk, led by Gigi Pardo.
We started out by walking to and around the picnic area, encountering several Pine Warblers on the way. In the remnants of the cattails we found nesting Green Heron and Moorhen. Two Moorhen chicks were also spotted. A Prairie Warbler was softely singing near the entrance to the bike path through "Homeless Hammock". While trying to locate a calling Redstart, I flushed a Chuck that was seen by a few of us. When we exited the hammock we noticed two Merlins circling overhead. One briefly perched on an Australian Pine but was chased off by Jays.
A couple of White-crowned Pigeons flew overhead as we checked the end of the pond near the entrance for waterthrush. An Indigo Bunting was seen by a few on the way. A Louisiana Waterthrush was present at the pond, and we played hide-and-seek for some time without getting satisfying looks. Movement sometimes turned out to be a Yellowthroat or Palm Warbler.
More warblers were near the old rooster area, including Black-and-white, Parula, and Black-throated Blue. There were also 2 Blue-headed Vireos and a Red-eyed Vireo.
The nature trail was next. A Broad-winged Hawk was seen several times. We found a perched Chuck that sat still while the entire group got a good look. A flock of warblers was probably the same one we encountered earlier.