1.2 miles completed
18.67 miles total completed
Today we participated in The Great Backyard Bird Count. I have done this in years past but never with the metro parks. Annie and I have always done it in our front yard and mostly just had starlings, robins and cardinals and such. This year though we decided to go with the metroparks and get this... Drum roll please... we saw a bald eagle. It was soooo exciting. I was not able to get any of my own pictures because everything was so far away so I'm going to borrow from the internet. We learned so much today and had a really wonderful time. Here are some of the birds we saw. Of course here's the eagle.
The way to identify them flying is first to identify them as a raptor because they flap then glide. They look like a plank flying. They are the darkest of the raptors that we have in this area. Also the largest. Then in the binoculars you were able to see his light head and tail. I would have totally missed him as being an eagle were it not for the other more experienced birders in our group.
Crow
Saw lots of crows. They were our most spotted bird. They kept trying to drive off any raptors we saw. They were much larger in the sky than I realized.
Blue-jay
saw lots of these too. These of one of my favorites for their beauty but not for their personality. They are a bit of a bully.
Chickadee
I love these guys. I think they are adorable. They are so quick and just flit around. Ever since we fed them at nature realm they have been one of my favorites.
Cardinal
Our state bird. Always so pretty. A little bit of color in our usually white landscape.
Red-bellied woodpecker
This little guy really has red on his belly even though you can't see it. I love woodpeckers and was so excited to see three species today.
Downey Woodpecker
This one is actually a young downey woodpecker. They ones we saw were full grown. I actually was the spotter of this bird which was exciting for me since I had never seen this type of woodpecker before.
Hairy woodpecker
The difference between the Downey and the Hairy we learned is the length of the beak. I had never seen this kind of woodpecker either.
Red Tail Hawk
This also is not my pic but I do know the photographer. It is Doug Dawes from Summit County Metroparks. Notice the dinner this hawk caught.
Red Shouldered Hawk
We were told that a lot of people confuse this hawk with the red tail hawk but what is important to notice and look for are the bars on the tail so i wanted to find a picture that showed those.
White breasted Nuthatch
I like these little birds because they like to run up and down a tree and don't mind if they are upside down or not. They look so funny.
Tufted Titmouse
These little guys are so cute too. They are the epitome of a fat little bird.
Ring-billed gull
We saw lots of these on the lake. they were hanging out with the ducks and geese
Canada Goose
Lots of these too on the lake. Always beautiful
American Black Duck
Thought they were female mallards but I was wrong. Who knows whether I've ever seen an American Black Duck before.
Mallard
Looks like the difference between female mallard and American black may be the blue stripe but I'm not totally sure. Will need to do more research on that.
Redhead duck
This is a very pretty duck. Unfortunately the sun really washed him out and his colors were very hard to see.
Belted Kingfisher
Everyone saw this bird but I missed him unfortunately. I would have loved to see him since I've never seen one but maybe next time.
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