WFB 131 Field Journal 2: Grass/Shrublands

Date - 5/25/21
Start time - 7:35 am
End time - 12:16 pm
Location - Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge
Weather (temperature, wind speed/direction, precipitation) - start: 59 F, 18 mph S, sunny with some clouds; end: 70 F, 18 mph S, mostly cloudy
Habitat(s) - I started out in a pretty dense wooded area with mostly hardwood deciduous trees and saw and heard Common Grackles, Common Yellowthroats, Brown Thrashers, American Robins, a Downy Woodpecker, and Northern Cardinals. As I continued down the main trail, the woods thinned out a bit and had occasional open spots. Here I found American Crows, Song Sparrows, Wood Thrushes, American Redstarts, and Gray Catbirds. Eventually I sat down at a bench in a large open clearing and found Black-capped Chickadees, Brown-headed Cowbirds, American Goldfinches, House Sparrows, and Red-winged Blackbirds. Eventually I came to a couple of very large open grassy fields, with a trail and small shrubby island between them. Here I saw and heard Northern Mockingbirds, a Red-tailed Hawk, Tufted Titmice, Turkey Vultures, a Field Sparrow, and Bobolinks.
A Fun Story: While I was sitting on a log in one of these open spots, I heard an American Redstart and decided to try to record it. As I was doing this, I happened to look down and hanging out next to me on the log was a redbelly snake. So now I have a very funny but very useless recording of me cursing and squealing as I run away. Obviously, I am not a huge snake fan (sorry Jim).

Posted on May 25, 2021 10:08 PM by emma2forsythe