Darlington Park

Today I woke up at 5:50am and was ready to go birding by 6:00am. Then I went downstairs to go wake my dad up. We were about to go outside but then we noticed the weather (10mm of rain, snow and wind speed of 53km/h), I watched the Weather Network until it "cleared up". At 7:00am, the storm went away and my dad and I went birding. After helping my dad unload some of his working supplies, we went to Darlington Park. At first I didn't remember going birding there before with my dad, but as soon as I saw the place I remembered. We were just about to park then a woodpecker-shaped bird flew. I got out of the truck and followed it, it was a Downy Woodpecker, then my dad parked. We started walking on the trail but it was very muddy. "Good call on the rubber boots dad". Soon we watched a flock of American Crows mob a Great Gray Owl. Most of you probably don't believe me but we have pictures of it from the last time we went to Darlington Park. The trail was leading to an open field and it was still very windy, so we went to a trail by the creek. We had some difficulty walking down the steep hill to the creek but despite the beginning of the trail, it was quite enjoyable afterwards. First we watched a Barred Owl fly over the top of the forest, then dad claimed he saw a Chipping Sparrow but it was actually a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It came very close to us and gleaned insects of the tip of a branch then flew to the next coniferous tree. Then I heard the Barred Owl call: "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all" a familiar sound to a somewhat experienced birder. It was soon 10:00am and no phone call from mom!? So we went home and she was making breakfast, then we all sat down and enjoyed the delicious meal mom prepared.

Total Names of Birds Seen:

Red-winged Blackbird

Northern Cardinal

Black-capped Chickadee

American Crow

Mourning Dove

American Goldfinch

Canada Goose

Common Grackle

Ring-billed Gull

Killdeer

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Check for 2009)

Mallard

Northern Mockingbird (Check for 2009)

White-breasted Nuthatch

Barred Owl (Check for 2009)

Great Gray Owl (Check for 2009)

Eastern Phoebe

Feral Pigeon

American Robin

House Sparrow

Song Sparrow

European Starling

Turkey Vulture

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker (Check for 2009)

Total Number of Birds Seen: 24 species of birds

Goodbye,

Birdman

(edited by mom)

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