The morning dawned with fears of rainfall, thunder, and high winds…in the end, we were greeted with only the winds, which were oddly comfortable given the warm temperatures of the day. 12 Hardy souls made the trip to the Mundy Wildflower Garden at Cornell Plantations, rendezvousing at COE at our new time of 7:45 and heading out soon thereafter.

Upon exiting the van we were greeted to starlings in the sycamore treetops, robins serenading us from all around, and a persistent cadre of downy woodpeckers voicing their full repertoire of “pik”s, whinnies, and drumming. A slow jaunt around the garden led to a prize bird of the day, a golden-crowned kinglet out in the open that everyone got a great look at. Chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches were consorting in a mixed-species flock with the kinglet, and from time to time a crow would fly over and give a hearty caw…Rounding out the list was a great look at an eastern screech owl roosting in a dead tree and a white-throated sparrow along the banks of the creek.

Thanks for a fun morning, everybody, and I hope to see you all on Thursday–stay tuned for where we’re headed next!

Location: Mundy Wildflower Garden Ithaca
Observation date: 4/1/08
Number of species: 25

Canada Goose 2
Mallard 2
Cooper’s Hawk 1
Ring-billed Gull 2
Rock Pigeon 1
Mourning Dove 2
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 5
Black-capped Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 25
European Starling 9
Song Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch 2

 

 

As always, if anything is missing from the list please let me know in the comments and I’ll add it on!