by Laurie Pocher
There may have been only three of us, but we covered a lot of ground, traveled through several different habitats, and logged 54 species in four hours at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm on Saturday, June 11, 2022.
Before we even left the parking area, a Great Egret flew overhead. We started off in the woods on the Saw-Whet Trail, where we were greeted by loud singing from several Red-Eyed Vireos, an Eastern Wood-Pewee and a Winter Wren. We were able to visually confirm all three birds, although a singing Pine Warbler, Black-Throated Green Warbler, White-Breasted Nuthatch, and Red-Bellied Woodpecker remained out of sight. A Brown Creeper landed right in front of us, a Hairy Woodpecker swooped through, and Black-Capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice and Chipping Sparrows flitted all around. As we left the woods, a Pileated Woodpecker and Northern Flicker flew past us.
Onto the next habitat — an open meadow. A female Wild Turkey tried to distract us from seeing her poults, but we did get quick peeks at two of them. A pair of Bobolinks, sounding like R2D2, posed for some photos, and we were treated to a show of Monarch Butterflies mating. A few Barn Swallows swooped around chasing insects.
Crossing back into the woods on the other side of the meadow, we saw several Eastern Towhees and a Brown Thrasher. Chestnut-Sided Warblers, Common Yellowthroats and Gray Catbirds followed us along the trail on either side as we walked toward the marsh. We heard Black-and-White Warblers calling, but weren’t able to spot them. A Veery popped out of the woods to sing us a brief song before being upstaged by a much louder Eastern Towhee.
At the marsh, we saw Red-Winged Blackbirds, Canada Geese, a pair of Willets and a single Mallard. We also saw quite a few Least Terns flying in the distance.
We stopped back at the cars for a quick water and snack break, and spotted a pair of House Finches with nesting materials, a few Eastern Bluebirds, and heard a House Wren calling from the shrubs across the parking lot. A couple of Brown-Headed Cowbirds were harassing a recently fledged American Robin until mom showed up and moved them along.
On our way to the beach, we saw a small flock of Cedar Waxwings. We also heard an Alder Flycatcher advertising ‘free beer’ while a Yellow Warbler bragged ‘sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet.’
When we arrived at the beach, we were immediately greeted by a female Piping Plover. As we walked along the high tide line, we saw several more adults, but no chicks. A bit further down, we found a nesting colony of Least Terns, with a mixed group of Bonaparte’s, Great Black-Backed and Herring Gulls nearby. A single Sanderling in breeding plumage foraged along the water’s edge, while Bank Swallows picked insects out of the air.
We also saw (or heard) Mourning Doves, Double-Crested Cormorants, Eastern Phoebes, Blue Jays, European Starlings, Northern Mockingbirds, House Sparrows, Song Sparrows, American Goldfinches, and Northern Cardinals. All in all, we tallied 54 species and upwards of 270 individual birds. Not bad for three people!
Let’s try to get those numbers up for our next outing… stay tuned for the trip announcement coming soon!
