Fall Migrants at the Rea Farm - Saturday, August 30th, 2014

The willow pond at the Beanery in late summer is often a good place to study Black-crowned Night-Herons, when both juveniles and adults roost around the pond edges. That was the case this morning, with two adults and four immatures hunched close to the water's edge. Both Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons typically feed at night, in part because they are often dominated by other herons and egrets by day and, unlike most other heron species, the immatures look very different from the adults. Though no Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were seen for comparison, we had good looks at the distinguishing features of the Black-crowned juveniles: yellow in the bill, shorter legs and neck, no white edges to the greater coverts and large white spots on the back. We also saw a young Yellow-breasted Chat preening quietly a couple feet off the ground which led to our typical speculation about whether a chat is really a warbler at all - but that's a topic for another day. Leaders: Kathy & Roger Horn, Karl Lukens, and Michael McCabe.
57 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  8
Wood Duck  2
Mallard  8
Double-crested Cormorant  8
Great Egret  2
Black-crowned Night-Heron  6
Black Vulture  2
Osprey  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Lesser Yellowlegs  2
Laughing Gull  15
Herring Gull (American)  2
Mourning Dove  14
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  11
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  5
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  3
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher)  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  15
White-eyed Vireo  2
Red-eyed Vireo  7
Blue Jay  4
American Crow  2
Fish Crow  2
Purple Martin  1
Tree Swallow  6
Barn Swallow  3
Carolina Chickadee  8
Tufted Titmouse  4
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  7
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
American Robin  6
Gray Catbird  4
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  70
Cedar Waxwing  11
Northern Waterthrush  3
Black-and-white Warbler  3
Common Yellowthroat  7
American Redstart  5
Northern Parula  1
Yellow Warbler  1
Yellow-breasted Chat  1
Field Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  8
Blue Grosbeak  1
Indigo Bunting  2
Bobolink  3
Red-winged Blackbird  12
Common Grackle  7
Brown-headed Cowbird  6
Baltimore Oriole  11
House Finch  4
American Goldfinch  2
House Sparrow  50

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Immature Black-crowned Night-Heron [Photo by Karl Lukens]

Double-crested Cormorants [Photo by Michael McCabe]

Great Egret [Photo by Michael McCabe]