Very Veery

Unattended eggs on a nest in the wetland.



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Betty spots a common nighthawk laying on a tangled branch on the left side of the tree about ten feet from the trunk.  She has good eyes for birds.



This was my last Saturday morning bird class.  We took a trip to Carlos Avery and spent 3.5 hours in the cold wind but we saw48 species so it was all worthwhile.  Actually, considering the cold, windy and at times rainy weather, 48 was a good number of birds to see.  We saw red winged blackbirds, Canada geese, Northern Cardinals, cowbirds, common yellow throat warbler, mourning doves, blue jays, rose breasted grossbeaks, tree swallows, cliff swallows (hundreds flying around the DNR garages), barn swallow, chipping sparrow, goldfinch, veery (we saw eight veerys-I can't believe it), chestnut sided warbler, American redstart, Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow warbler, red bellied woodpecker, blue wing teal, ovenbird, red headed woodpecker (very cool), yellow rumped warbler, ruby crowned kinglet, night hawk(also very cool), house wren, broad wing hawk, trumpeter swans, mallards, great blue heron, sandhill cranes, pheasant, loon, harris sparrow, ring necked ducks, coot, turkey vulture, song sparrow, starlings, palm warbler, Eastern bluebird, Kestrel, phoeb, flicker, wood ducks, pileated woodpecker, catbirds, robins and a crow.  I was very excitede to see the night hawk and the veery.  Last year I heard a veery while on a bird walk with some friends doing work on my section of the breeding bird atlas.  They heard a veery.  Then my friend played the sound of a veery on her IPad application.  The real veery responded to the sound from her Ipad.  They have a haunting flutelike sound - like tubes being swung in the air very fast. The night hawk was cool too.  The picture shows how hidden it was.  We showed other people where it was and even though they were standing right below the tree, they couldn't see it for a long time. This night hawk was like one of those magic eye pictures that you have to stare at a long time before you can actually see it.  The night hawk doesn't perch on the branch like other birds.  We can't even see it's legs.  It lies prone on the branch and blends right into the tree.  I am a little sad this class is over.  I heard Gene Merriam tried to get in and couldn't because the course was full.  But I am glad to have my Monday nights back and to be able to sleep in Saturday mornings again.