Despite the heavy early morning fog, two hearty souls joined us for our monthly bird walk at Banshee Reeks on Saturday, August 12. The birds seemed happy to see the end of the rain but many were difficult to ID at first due to the poor light and wet feathers! Even still, we were able to see and ID both a Common Chat and Blue Grosbeak while in the parking lot. The meadow and trees by the Visitor Center were full of family groups of Eastern Kingbirds and Mockingbirds with Indigo Buntings and Goldfinch flying back and forth. The newly cleared area there (thanks to the goats) yielded a good number of species as well.
Highlights of the walk included 6 Brown Thrashers – all seen, and 5 Yellow-billed Cuckoos with nice overhead views of two of them.
Brown Thrasher
Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve
Aug 12, 2017
8:00 AM
Traveling
1.75 miles
183 Minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.5.3 Build 148
1 Black Vulture
5 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
4 Mourning Dove
5 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
3 Downy Woodpecker
1 Pileated Woodpecker
Yellow-breasted Chat
1 Eastern Wood-Pewee
2 Eastern Phoebe
6 Eastern Kingbird
1 White-eyed Vireo
4 Blue Jay
2 American Crow
6 Fish Crow
1 Carolina Chickadee
1 Tufted Titmouse
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 House Wren
4 Carolina Wren
2 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
1 Eastern Bluebird
5 American Robin
14 Gray Catbird
6 Brown Thrasher
12 Northern Mockingbird
6 European Starling
7 Cedar Waxwing
2 Common Yellowthroat
3 Yellow-breasted Chat
2 Chipping Sparrow
6 Field Sparrow
2 Song Sparrow
6 Eastern Towhee
8 Northern Cardinal
2 Blue Grosbeak
6 Indigo Bunting
35 Red-winged Blackbird
14 American Goldfinch
Number of Taxa: 38
Dori Rhodes and Jane Yocom