Carden Rails, eagle, etc. Posted on May 3, 2011 at 10:35:45 PM by Norm Murr
Today Ian Cannell, Margaret Liubavicius, Jay Peterson and I went up to the Carden Alvar north of Kirkfield to try and hear the reported Yellow Rail but alas and yes alack we did not hear it though we tried hard twice during the morning, but following are some of the nice birds we did find along some of the roads up there.
Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, American Bitterns, Great Blue Herons (on nests), Wood Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded and Common Mergansers, Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagle (on nest), Northern Harriers, Ruffed Grouse (2 on roads), Wild Turkeys, Virginia Rails, Soras, Common Moorhens, Sandhill Cranes (6), Upland Sandpipers, Wilson’s Snipes, (many), American Woodcock, Caspian Tern, Belted Kingfishers, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flickers, Pileated Woodpeckers - 4 adults, maybe 5 (and at least 2 chicks being fed at a nest hole), Eastern Phoebes, Common Ravens, House, Winter and Marsh Wrens, Eastern Bluebirds, Brown Thrashers, Loggerhead Shrikes (8 at 4 locations including the pair west of Bluebird box #10 on Wylie Road), Northern Waterthrush (6), Eastern Towhees, American Tree, Chipping, Field, Vesper, Savannah and Grasshopper Sparrows, Eastern Meadowlarks (many), Purple Finches, and Pine Siskins.
We also saw 5 Porcupines, Deer, Muskrats and Beavers.
A cool drizzly day but well worth the trip even without the Yellow Rail
Note:- Most of the dirt roads we travelled Have many pot holes but they are all passable and we did see a grader working on McNamee Road and there is lots of water in many of the fields and wood lots along the roads.
Rockview Road south of the road into the dump had much household garbage dumped in the ditches and forest edge, a shame to see.