Bennington Lake this morning

There were LOTS of birds on our walk this morning. Many young birds have fledged and are being generally very noisy.  We saw more birds today than in weeks past when we could hear them, but not always see them.  Some of the species that had young birds were American kestrel, black-headed grosbeak, gray catbird, black-chinned hummingbird, cedar waxwing, yellow warbler, eastern kingbird, chipping sparrow, downy woodpecker and great horned owl.  There are still swallows, Vaux's swifts, and one osprey flying above the water.  We saw one spotted sandpiper and a couple killdeer, a belted kingfisher, a great blue heron and two mallards along the bank.  A big river otter was also swimming around the lake.  There isn't much mud along the shoreline yet, so there weren't any migrating shorebirds.  We got out early so the heat wasn't too bad - all in all it was a very successful morning of birding.     Ginger