Greenstone Hollow Nature Preserve

The day was clear and sunny. We could not ask for a nicer day for our start of nesting season walk. The leaves were out, so we practiced birding by ear. Five of us gathered for the Greenstone trip, including two new members. Welcome to Hartford Audubon.

The roadside started us off with a variety of birds. A Green Heron flew over. We had several Blue-winged Warblers that were the abundant nester we found. We also had an Eastern Kingbird. This was a new species for the preserve.

In the shrubby field we found a scattering of Yellow Warblers. We are trying to improve the habitat for such shrub nesting species. We also had a number of Great-crested Flycatchers. This was a new species for the preserve. Several Baltimore Orioles were singing, but the nests were hidden.

Crawling towards the road was an Eastern Box Turtle. It was just sitting there closed up in its shell. We moved it across the road in the direction it was heading and wished it well on its way.

In the marsh we saw a Red-winged Blackbird nest with the female sitting on it. Then she flew off and returned with some yummy morsel for the chicks, and repeatedly flew off and returned to feed the young. The nest was not well hidden, so we got to see it easily. I reported this to the Bird Atlas project. To end it, we had a Wood Duck fly over.

We had a total of 34 species, including 4 warblers.

Respectfully submitted,
Larry Lunden