Bear Swamp and McIlroy Preserve, May 19th 2012

- By Carl Steckler

On Saturday May 19 Meg, I and seven brave souls braved the possibility of gnats, tics, chiggers and blood sucking carnivorous flying beasts, all to find the elusive bird.  We visited Bear Swamp and the Dorothy McIlroy Preserve to see what we could find.

Our first stop was the parking area off Iowa Road on Bear Swamp road. The sounds of birds surrounded us and after spending two hours without leaving the parking area we saw or heard 18 species. Not bad for an area of about  75 feet square.

We saw:

Turkey Vulture

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue Jay

Crow

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Magnolia Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Brown-headed Cowbird

Dark-eyed Junco

Chipping Sparrow

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

We also heard:

Wood Thrush

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Ovenbird

Mourning Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Scarlet Tanager

We then went to Dorthy McIlroy Preserve and walked the loop.. We saw or heard 21 species.

Birds Seen:

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Alder Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Red-eyed Vireo

Crow

Tree Swallow

Gray Catbird

Robin

Magnolia Warbler

Ovenbird

Baltimore Oriole

Red-winged Blackbird

Common Grackle

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Birds Heard:

Ring-necked Pheasant

Great Crested Flycatcher

Warbling Vireo

Veery

Black-throated Green warbler

Northern Waterthrush

All in all a great day, many thanks to: Suan,Leishmania, Becky, Sue, Clause, Robert, Meg and Rick, great birders.