Thursday's Bird Watch

Today is the 300th article I have written for the newsletter for Dallas Retirement Village, originally known as the "DRV Daily Chronicle", now known as "Looking Ahead".  This Osprey was photographed atop a power pole at a pond along Smithfield Rd. near Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge last week.  It had just finished eating a fish.  It's an appropriate bird to feature in this 300th article because off All the birds that Jeanette and I pursue, it is probably the one species we know the best.  We know its life patterns by heart.  This male will be leaving in September to fly over 2000 miles south for the winter.  Come March he will return to this area and join his female at the same nest they shared this year.  He will fish all summer to feed her and their hatched juveniles. Then when September arrives again, he will take off for another winter down south. 

 

Thursday's Bird Watch!

This is a female Anna's Hummingbird from our balcony feeder last week, August 13th.  Did you know that Anna's Hummingbirds are one of the most frequently seen bird species at Dallas Retirement Village?  In fact, looking at eBird.org, Anna's Hummingbirds are in the top five, observed every week of the year here.  Other birds that have been seen every week are American Crows, California Scrub-Jays, Eurasian Collared-Doves, and European Starlings. There are a total 92 different species of birds that have been observed here at DRV, but only those five have been reported during every single week of the year.
 

Thursday's Bird Watch!

This Turkey Vulture is taking advantage of the morning sun to dry out its wings before taking flight for the day in search of dead cairn. It's their job, so to speak, to serve on the "clean-up crew" to take care of dead carcasses along our roads and fields.  This Vulture was photographed last month at the Ritner Creek Covered Bridge County Park in Kings Valley.  This park is a location that the Village Birders from Dallas Retirement Village will be visiting on a Bus Birding Trip next month. 
 

Thursday's Bird Watch

 Dallas Retirement Village resident David Stewart supplied this week's photo.  It was taken on the shrubbery of David and Bette's Lodge residence patio. The white head striping of the bird on the right easily identifies it as an adult, White-crowned Sparrow.  I first assumed the bird on the left was a juvenile, White-crowned Sparrow. Close examination revealed another story, it's a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird!! Brown-headed Cowbirds are unique in that they do not build or use a nest of their own. Instead, the female lays her eggs in other birds' nests. This juvenile has in all likelihood hatched in this White-crowned Sparrows nest, which may explain what I perceive as a confused look of the parent at this oversized different looking juvenile. 

Places We Love to Bird - Ballston County Park

The small community of Ballston was originally called Ballsville after railroad backer Isaac Ball. The park is made up of this tiny one-room school nestled in a grove of oak trees. The school was originally built in 1855 a half a mile away and later moved to this location on log rollers pulled by oxen in 1874. Today as a Polk County Park it is an inviting spot to stop, and for us a good place to check out the birds. Acorn Woodpeckers are the most dependable species to be heard and seen here because of cavity nests in the oak trees. On this visit on August 6th, we set up the lawn chairs in the shade and listened and watched and made up our eBird list. I'm sure this will continue to be a place we love to visit and enjoy.

   

 

Thursday's Bird Watch

This Red-breasted Sapsucker was photographed by Dallas Retirement Village Resident Del Warren.  Del took this photo from his car as he was driving through the Dallas Cemetery last month.  The worldwide database of eBird.org recognizes the Dallas Cemetery as an official birding location.  Del has birded here several times and is currently the top birder at this location, having identified 37 different species of birds.