Kurt Gaskill and I visited Sky Meadows SP in Delaplane this morning. We had
some nice birding at Turner Pond, the Sherman's Mill trail, and the picnic
area. We tallied 13 warbler species (ovenbird, black-and-white, Tennessee,
yellowthroat, redstart, Cape May, magnolia, bay-breasted, blackpoll,
black-throated blue, palm, yellow-rumped, black-throated green). Cape May was
the most common, with 10 counted. Other highlights were purple finch, junco,
yellow-billed cuckoo, great egret, barred owl, 8 yellow-bellied sapsuckers, 2
gray-cheeked and 7 Swainson's thrushes, and 25 indigo buntings, most in the
picnic area. On the way home we birded Carr Lane and Rectortown Road and added
northern parula, northern harrier, pewee, and white-throated sparrow. A big
surprise was not seeing or hearing any chickadees or titmice at all. I cannot
recall ever missing both these species. Sparrows were also in far fewer number
than we expected. We counted 70 species in all.
Marc Ribaudo
