May 29, 2012 Union Bay Natural Area Bird Tour

Today my class went on a bird watching tour. This was around 3:30pm, and the weather was warm but cloudy. We all tried to be silent occasionally and when we did, we could hear the chirps of a Song Sparrow. There were quite a few Red-winged blackbirds out that day, and I was able to walk quite close to one that was perched at the top of a tree. It sat there for quite awhile and would chirp near constantly then let out a three tone call that to me resembles a train whistle. There were many mallard ducks swimming in a shallow pond nestled in the middle of the UBNA, and at one point a female mallard came close to shore with a baby mallard duck that was no bigger than my fist. When the baby duck hit the shore it did not slow down but continued on at the same pace as if it were still swimming. Along the edge of the bond was what I originally thought was deadly nightshade, but later identified as bittersweet, which is still part of the nightshade family but not as deadly.

Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia
Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus
Bittersweet, Solanum dulcamara
Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos

由使用者 andymj 在 2012年06月01日 03:39 所貼文