By The Throat! #115

The Beach City Dam has some surprisingly nice areas to bird watch. Recent improvement to the dam has left several small trails cut through the wooded area downstream from the dam dike. It was just a short time ago that I tried birding there for the first time and had several run-ins with Warblers and a fantastic view of a Winter Wren. I never added the Warblers to my list because I am still learning to ID them and wasn't 100% sure at the time. The dam also happens to be not but 15 minutes from my house as well, which is niiiice.

So, with 3 hours to burn this morning, I decided to try my hand again. Today I was armed with two bird guide books, a fall warbler ID chart and Stokes audio field guide on my iPod. Yes, I was determined to ID whatever came my way! As it turns out I saw only Yellow-rumped Warblers today, which have now become an easy ID for me. But I WASN'T skunked! Flitting through the shaded under growth was the one, the only, White-throated Sparrow! A great bird and a welcome migrant this time of year. Go out and find one! By the way... this bird has one of those songs that you've probably heard before. I've heard it just today as a part of outdoor sound FX on a TV show... which brings up another point. Do YOU ID the bird calls you hear on TV shows?? That's when you know you may be in a little deep...

White-throated Sparrow, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology


Photo Credits:

White-throated Sparrow - Cephas

From Top To Bottom... #113-#114

My birdwatching has been a bit sporadic this fall. But between family and work I have managed to catch some short forays into the outdoors. Today was one of the Autumn days that makes you want to bask in the October glow. I had a few hours so I headed over to the Beach City Wilderness Area to see what might turn up. I wasn't disappointed! Coming around a bend in the road I saw a tell-tale fluttering out of the corner of my eye. Binoculars up and I saw my first White-crowned Sparrow.

White-crowned Sparrow, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Further down the road I parked along the way beneath a canopy of oak and berry producing trees. Quite a few birds were working the area. Downy and Red-bellied woodpeckers, Robins, Jays, Cardinals and then something different caught my eye. Flitting about like flycatchers in the foliage was a grayish bird with streaked flanks and white wing bars. A sudden turn and the bird presented itself: Yellow-rumped Warbler. Turns out there was a small group of about 10-15 of the birds from what I could see.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Well there you have it. Three hours and two new birds. Good day ;)


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Photo Credits:

White-crowned Sparrow - Wolfgang Wander
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Alan D. Wilson