Five of us went birding in Schenley Park on Saturday morning April 20. The weather was great! Blue sky and puffy clouds.

Our Best Birds were a yellow-rumped warbler and two ruby-crowned kinglets chasing each other and raising their red crowns. First-of-Year Birds were fun, too: Wood thrushes, house wrens, and a spotted sandpiper. We saw 29 species: ebird checklist S55174092.

Schenley Park has few wildflowers because there are so many deer. We saw three in broad daylight on Saturday (same location as this March 27 photo). I’ve seen a herd of 21 in the past month. The flowers don’t stand a chance.

Fortunately the deer leave the trout lilies alone. Perhaps these plants are poisonous.

Leaf Out is coming. The red oaks have very tiny leaves.

In case you’re curious, bird migration has picked up in the past two weeks. Here are the First-of-Year Birds I’ve seen in Schenley Park from April 10 to April 20, 2019.

• Northern Rough-winged Swallow – Stelgidopteryx serripennis (4/10)
• Tree Swallow – Tachycineta bicolor (4/10)
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet – Regulus calendula (4/11)
• Hermit Thrush – Catharus guttatus (4/11)
• Blue-headed Vireo – Vireo solitarius (4/12)
• Savannah Sparrow – Passerculus sandwichensis (4/17)
• Broad-winged Hawk – Buteo platypterus (4/18)
• Palm Warbler – Setophaga palmarum (4/18)
• Yellow-rumped Warbler – Setophaga coronata (4/19)
• Spotted Sandpiper – Actitis macularius (4/20)
• House Wren – Troglodytes aedon (4/20)
• Wood Thrush – Hylocichla mustelina (4/20)

p.s. For information on future outings, see the Events page.

(photos by Kate St. John)