Cylburn Arboretum and Baltimore area report for May 16, 2008
Well this little bird outing didn't go exactly as I envisioned it. It rained nearly non-stop the entire day. From the time I opened my eyes at 5:00 a.m. until nearly 2:30 p.m. there was some form of water falling from the sky. What a let down. However since I only had one day to bird I wasn't going to let that stop me.
The Cylburn Arboretum is a lovely place and I'm sure I would have had a heck of a birding day had it not been raining, and if there had been just a little sun.
Despite the rain I spent several hours trying to bird. I got fairly well soaked. I had plans to meet an old friend at the Inner Harbor so I took a break from the birding around 11:00 a.m. I was going to head to Pimlico after the Inner Harbor, but the sun finally made an appearance and the rain stopped falling, so instead I went back to Cylburn. Good thing because it was on my return trip that I spotted the Red-eyed Vireo.
All in all I had a decent time. I did add six new life birds so I guess it was worth getting wet.
The list, life birds in bold...
The list includes all birds seen on May 16, not just those from the Cylburn Arboretum.
Northern Mockingbird, Gray Catbird, Chipping Sparrow, Northern Cardinals, American Robins, Red-tailed Hawk, Eastern Towhees, House Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Carolina Chickadee, Brown-headed Cowbirds, American Crow, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow-rumped Warbler "Myrtle", Common Yellow Throat, House Wren, White-throated Sparrow, Yellow Warbler, Barn Swallow, Song Sparrow, Northern Flicker, European Starlings, Yellow-throated Warbler, Rock Dove, Mallards, Ring-billed Gulls, House Fincc, Double-crested Cormorant, Chimney Swifts, Red-eyed Vireo, Ruby-throated Hummingbird (female), White-breasted Nuthatch, Turkey Vulture, Common Grackles, Blue Jay (heard)
I thought I heard a Pileated Woodpecker, but it could also have been a White-breated Nuthatch. I don't have much experience with either bird.
The "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warbler is new for me. I've only seen the "Audubon's" form before.
Due to the rain and poor lighting conditions most of the pictures I took just sucked. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo of the Yellow-throated Warbler. The little sucker only popped up long enough for me to get a look through my binoculars. Drat. It was such a lovely little bird.
Attached photo of a male Eastern Towhee. You can see the rain falling and the drops of water on him. LOL
Attachment(s): Eastern Towhee (m) Cylburn Arboretum.jpg