Today I went on another bird trip to Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. I carpooled with 3 other friends. We saw a total of 32 species today. At the beginning of the trip we stopped at the bathrooms near the entrance to the wildlife drive. We saw and heard a field sparrow (photo). Now a field sparrow is not that exciting of a bird. Just a little brown bird similar to a chipping sparrow but without the black eye stripe. What excited me about the field sparrow was their beautiful song. They sing like a monk - all one note. They start out slow and clear and at the end they go so fast they sound like a ball bouncing. Our teacher explained their song and the rest of the trip I heard field sparrows almost every time we got out of the car. I remembered what they sound like. Thinking back, I remember hearing these birds up at the farm. We have a good teacher because I think I've got the song of the field sparrow nailed now. We also saw barn swallows, yellow rumped warblers, starling, red winged blackbirds, Canadian Geese, yellow Warbler, Sandhill Cranes, Cowbirds, Great blue herons, blue jays, mallards, phoebe, bluebirds, palm warblers, double crested cormorants, rose breasted grossbeaks, Eastern towhee, trumpeter swans, northern Harrier hawk, Brown Thrasher, red tailed hawk, ring necked ducks, pied billed grebe, coots (old), turkey vultures, tree swallows, killdeer, blue winged teal, chipping sparrow, bald eagle and robin. Our teacher was in the lead car. She stopped her car because she heard an Eastern Towhee. She impresses us all when she finds the little towhee on a branch on the farthest tree in the distance. She sets up her spotting scope and we all get a look at the towhee. Towhee's are cooperative for us birding students unlike the warblers who won't sit still for a single second. As we watch the towhee, trumpeter swans land in a pond on the other side of the drive. Sandhill cranes are walking in the tall grass. As we stand and watch, 5 trumpeter swans fly right by our group and three sandhill cranes fly near us in the other direction. It's like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom out here as the swans and the cranes fill the sky right in front of our eyes. I tell you, we had a moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment