Birdy Bennington Lake

This was the day for babies – young fledglings everywhere – house wrens, yellow warblers, Bullock's orioles, black-headed grosbeaks, robins, rough-winged swallows, bank swallows.  We also had more shorebirds today – seven western sandpipers and three least sandpipers, a greater yellowlegs and a long-billed dowitcher.  A Caspian tern was circling the lake when we arrived at the parking lot.  We had high counts of house wrens (26), yellow warblers (36) and robins (36) and a total of 49 species for the day.  The best part of our morning walk was the fact that it was cloudy and cool!  It's been an unusual summer with no scorching hot mornings so far, and I would be happy if it stayed that way.  Ginger

Bennington Lake Today

We are beginning to see and hear young birds.  This morning we found young Bullock's orioles, yellow warblers and house wrens.  We also found a western wood peewee nest with mom sitting on eggs.  We had our first shorebird other than the killdeer and spotted sandpipers that nest at the lake.  It was a long-billed dowitcher.  Hopefully with the water level continuing to go down, we will see more shorebirds as they come back through.  We saw and/or heard 44 species today.  It was a very pleasant morning for walking – not too hot with a little breeze to help us keep cool.  Ginger