Start Your Year List
| Trip leader: Kurt Schwarz Recorder: Roshan Vignarajah Photographer: Mary Lou Clark |
Date of trip: January 1, 2025 |
| Location: Howard County Conservancy and Centennial Park | Number attending: 10 |
| Details: The 2025 Start Your Year List trip began at 08:00 am at the Howard County Conservancy. Ten eager participants showed up. It was mostly sunny and in the mid-40s. A very stiff west wind made it seem chilly and did not help the birding. The highlight of Mount Pleasant was a perched Merlin, enjoying a meal. We also had a Raven flyover at the parking lot. From there we went to Centennial Park, in hopes of waterfowl. On the way we saw 9 Rock Pigeon on a wire at the intersection of Routes 29 and 40. The waterfowl at Centennial were 175 Canada Geese, 6 Mallards, 19 Hooded Mergansers, and 2 Ruddy Ducks, 1 Pied-billed Grebe. One of the Ruddys was a very pale male, that had us confused for some time. The trip ended with a Gray Catbird feasting on invasive oriental bittersweet berries. | |
eBird links with bird photos: Howard County Conservancy, Centennial Park |
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Canada Goose 217
Mallard 6
Hooded Merganser 19
Ruddy Duck 2
Rock Pigeon 19
Mourning Dove 6
Ring-billed Gull 20
Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron 3
Black Vulture 4
Turkey Vulture 3
Bald Eagle 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Belted Kingfisher 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 4
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 1
Merlin 1
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 33
Fish Crow 70
Common Raven 1
Carolina Chickadee 5
Carolina x Black-capped Chickadee hybrid 1
Tufted Titmouse 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 1
Winter Wren 1
Carolina Wren 5
European Starling 10
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 5
Eastern Bluebird 12
American Robin 10
Cedar Waxwing 6
House Sparrow 1
House Finch 20
American Goldfinch 10
Field Sparrow 6
Dark-eyed Junco 7
White-throated Sparrow 25
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 13
Swamp Sparrow 6
Eastern Meadowlark 8
Red-winged Blackbird 40
Common Grackle 10
Northern Cardinal 8