Bennington Lake

There were birds everywhere again today.  New fledglings for the week were gray catbirds, eastern kingbirds, western kingbirds and unfortunately   cowbirds being fed by yellow warblers in three different locations.  The good news is, we didn't see any adult cowbirds today.  We are walking at 7:00 now while the weather is hot.  The birds had quieted down considerably by the time we returned to the parking lot.  46 species today.

Baby Birds at Bennington

There were baby birds everywhere we walked this morning – yellow warblers, Bullock's orioles, house wrens, black-headed grosbeaks, gray catbirds, Bewick's wrens, song sparrows and cedar waxwings.  It was nice to see so many fledgling birds. Lots and lots of swallows were flying over the lake – bank, northern rough-winged, tree, cliff and even a few  barn. One osprey was fishing. Yellow-breasted chats were still very vocal as were the western wood peewees, magpies and flickers.  We saw a pair of western tanagers along the west side trail.  In past years they have nested there, but this was the first we'd seen of them in a month or so.  Goldfinches and robins were abundant.  There was one greater yellowlegs along the south shoreline as well as several killdeer and spotted sandpipers.  We walked at 7:00 this morning, so it wasn't too hot.  It you want to enjoy the birds but avoid the heat, I would suggest going early in the morning and walking the western side of the lower trail from the parking lot.  We saw most of the species mentioned in that area.

Have fun and enjoy the birds.  Ginger