Hudson Garden August 10th

On August 10th Britny, myself and 9 other people gathered at the Hudson Garden gift shop for our Saturday walk.

We saw few birds until we reached the Platte where birds activity was plentiful! Yellow Warblers are still singing and Northern Flicker's were calling from the tall cottonwoods. We made our way up the river watching the Mallards float by while discussing the males in eclipse plumage (Males with a yellow bill and orange feet while females have an orange bill and orange feet). Arriving at the bridge we glassed the water for Wood Ducks and found a single eclipsed male mixed in with 15 or some Mallards.

An adult Double-crested Cormorant sunned itself in the center of the river its jet black plumage and green eyes reflecting in the sun. While admiring this textbook adult a juvenile paddled down to a rock nearby. We noticed the overall buffy look to the juvenile compared to the adult.

We had lovely views of 3 herons species Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-heron and the slender Snowy Egret.

Snowy Egret

We made our way across the river to a small adjoining pond where we watched Barn Swallows and talked about how to tell the differences between the species perched and in flight. On our way back to the coffee shop we had great views of Cedar Waxwings catching insects out above the river. We ended the day with a mystery juvenile Grosbeak on the Hudson Garden's hopper feeder. Initially we thought Black-headed and it slowly turned to doubt as we noticed a stain of red on a breast as well and red under wings as it flew past us disappearing into the locust trees. We were never able to relocate the bird but we're still leaning toward Red-breasted Grosbeak. We ended the day with 25 species.


Wood Duck with her duckling

Be sure to check out more photos on our facebook page at www.facebook.com/frontrangebirding

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-heron
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow Warbler
Rose-breasted/Black-headed Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
House Finch
American Goldfinch

Thanks for reading! -Megan