White-throated Sparrow.
Photo by Michael Sciortino
The monthly walk at Bles Park led by John Denice, Bryan Henson and Allison Gallo was surprisingly quiet on February 19. We didn’t find any woodpeckers until about two-thirds of the way through the walk! In the end, the group of 16 birders found 34 species of birds, but at times it felt like the birds were hiding from us. Mallards were the only duck seen on the marsh, but we saw a flyover Common Merganser and found a pair of Hooded Mergansers on Broad Run. A flock of White-throated Sparrows let us get good looks so we could view the differences between the white and tan morphs with ease. As the walk neared the end, we found a few Brown Creepers, Yellow-rumped Warblers and even a Ruby-crowned Kinglet to round out the walk. The full list of species can be viewed on eBird at: https://ebird.org/