Bennington Lake

Nesting time is drawing to a close at the lake.  Most of the summer migrants have raised their young and the fledglings are now very visible - especially yellow warblers and house wrens.  The swallows are starting to leave for their trip south after another very successful year.  The cliff swallows have left and the bank swallows are mostly gone.  A few tree swallows remain, and the barn swallows have started coming to the lake to feed.  Vaux's swift numbers are growing and should continue at least through August.

The Corp planted sunflowers in two places on the east side of the lake and the finches have already found them. August is when we start watching for migrants that don't nest at the lake to pass through on their way south - warblers, flycatchers, and shorebirds (we saw a greater yellowlegs today).  There's always something new to discover at Bennington Lake.  Mornings and evenings are the best time to walk the trail in the summer.  Birds are more active AND it isn't so hot! 

 

Bennington Lake today

The biggest surprise of the morning walk was a family of red-naped sapsuckers at the south end of the lake (one young and two adults).  There were several hundred swallows (mostly cliff and bank) over the lake.  Most of the tree swallow families were along the canal along with at least one family of rough-winged swallows.  We saw young lazuli buntings and black-headed grosbeaks along the canal and the yellow breasted chats were very vocal and visible today.  One Caspian tern was over the lake all morning, and an osprey made a brief appearance.  We saw a total of 46 species - another good morning of birding.

Ginger

Sandpipers and young birds

On our Bennington Lake walk this morning, we were surprised to find four WESTERN SANDPIPERS and one LEAST SANDPIPER along the base of the dam. Also, on the water were 17 NORTHERN SHOVELERS.  The summer birds have started to bring off young.  We saw seven young HOUSE WRENS and two young BULLOCK'S ORIOLES. Many of the others are feeding young, so it won't be long before the lake will be popping with young LAZULI BUNTINGS, WESTERN WOOD PEEWEES, YELLOW WARBLERS, YELLOW BREASTED CHATS, GRAY CATBIRDS, SPOTTED SANDPIPERS and CEDAR WAXWINGS. There were over 100 BANK SWALLOWS, the usual TREE, CLIFF and ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, as well as several VAUX'S SWIFTS. I encourage you to take an early morning walk around the lake - the birding is great!  Ginger