25 July 2021

Nine of us gathered this morning at the Nine Mile Trail parking lot to walk Frick Park’s Boardwalk and the upper Nine Mile Run valley. At the beginning it was very cloudy but it didn’t rain.

The birds were quiet. Many have stopped singing for the year and gray skies made the rest of them subdued. Nonetheless we saw northern rough-winged swallows feeding young in flight and heard the warning calls of wood thrushes, robins and tufted titmice in a spot where a barred owl often roosts. Alas, we never found the owl.

It’s hard to pick a Best Bird but easy to pick the worst smell. We had to walk (as far away as possible!) past a decomposing deer near Commercial Street. Where are the turkey vultures when you need them? We didn’t see any today. Our list has 24 species.

Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)  2
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)  4
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  3
Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens)  1
Acadian Flycatcher (Empidonax virescens)  1
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus)  1    Heard
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)  7    Pair chasing and harassing a blue jay
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)  1
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)  2
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)  10
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis)  10
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)  7
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  5
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)  1
Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina)  4
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  20
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)  2
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)  4
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  5
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)  2
Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea)  2
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  10
Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S92277306

Thanks to all who came out. Next outing is slated for 29 August.

(photo by Kate St. John)