Sunday May 31st was a lovely day for a bird outing and in the morning, we had a good turnout of birders at the southern end of Royston’s Marine Drive.
At this time of year, it is especially difficult to sight the birds making all the calls and songs in the very leafy trees and bushes, but we managed to identify eleven species before relocating to the end of Hilton Rd. Here, we spent some time checking out the shoreline and trees/bushes in the vicinity of the Royston Hulks before walking down the Seaside Trail. Again, lots of songs and calls. Identifications were mainly by sight but eight were by sound, supported by the Merlin bird id app.
Our total bird count of sighted birds was 22 species: Bald Eagle, Turkey Vulture, American Crow, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Band-tailed Pigeon, American Robin, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, Violet-green Swallow, Barn Swallow, House Finch, Bewick’s Wren, Bushtit, White-crowned Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warble, Purple Martin, Western Flycatcher, Anna’s Hummingbird, Great Blue Heron, Caspian Tern, gull spp, Bonaparte Gull
The count for birds identified by sound was 8: Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush, Pine Siskin, Song Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Brown-headed Cowbird.
Photos by Dawn M. and Rob R.:
1. Violet-green Swallow 2. Violet-green Swallow in nest box
3. Violet-green Swallow on wires 4. Western Flycatcher
5. Spotted Towhee 6. Eurasian Collared-Dove
7. Band-tailed Pigeon 8. Purple Martins at nest boxes
9. Purple Martin male
