2024 Roaring Brook Nature Center Field Trip Report – 4/28/2024
On Sunday, April 28th nine hardy birders joined trip leader, Jay Kaplan, in the Roaring Brook Nature Center parking lot at 6:30 am for a two plus hour jaunt along the trails of Werner’s Woods, a State of Connecticut property for which the Nature Center serves as steward.
The weather forecast was all over the map, with some models predicting cloudy conditions, while others called for intermittent showers. Happily, the showers never materialized and, after checking the wooded areas adjacent to the Nature Center, where we heard birds like yellow-bellied sapsucker, house wren, and Louisiana waterthrush, we headed off into the woods.
Although the leaves are not yet out in late April, neither are the trees’ flowers, and thus, there is not as much to eat in the trees as there will be in a few weeks, when the flowers of oaks and other trees open up and begin to attract insects. Nevertheless, our group stopped on several occasions to observe flocks of yellow-rumped warblers, and to listen to the first black-and-white and black-throated green warblers of the season.
Perhaps the highlight of the trip for many of us was the sound that baby barred owls make when they are begging for food from the parent. And, sure enough, a sharp-eye observer located an adult owl about 70 yards out in the trees. After admiring the owl for a minute, we quietly moved away from the area so that the owl family could go about its business.
We continued to find yellow-rumped warblers, and who knows, there may have been other species with them. Alas, the visibility was poor and birds in the treetops showed little in the way of field marks. A Cooper’s hawk, flapping and gliding above the trees, was the only diurnal raptor to make an appearance on this gray morning.
Approaching the pond, we observed a pair of wood ducks in flight, and a mallard soon alighted on the pond. On a walk the previous day, there had been a more unusual American black duck in that same location. Perhaps the rarest bird of the walk was a European starling seen in front of the Nature Center building upon our return to the parking lot. We rarely see starlings here, something for which we are quite thankful. It was now getting close to 9:00 am and time to think about breakfast and the rest of the day.
Our species count was 36, not bad for April. A week from now, there will be many more species arriving as spring migration builds to its peak in mid-May!
Respectfully submitted,
Jay Kaplan, Trip Leader