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September 30, 2007:
Five participants came out for a nice morning of birding at Cullinan Park. We spent the whole time observing birds from the observation tower. We did have a couple of rain showers pass over us while we were there but that did not dampen the birding. We got great looks at Green Herons both juveniles and adults, Little Blue Herons both juveniles and adults, Wood Ducks, Blue-winged Teal in non-breading plumage, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and Pied-billed Grebes. While we were watching the ducks and herons a few Broad-winged Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks and a Sharp-shinned Hawk gave us close flyby looks. They were close enough that we could really get a good overall impression of the whole bird and see the markings on the under and top sides of the raptors real well. That made it possible for the participants to actually be able to see the definative field marks of each raptor that I was describing. Usually, you wind up describing the definitive field marks after people are comfortable with the identification based on the general impression of size and shape of the raptor even though they are not able to see all the marks you are describing because the raptor is so far out or is so high. That is why starting with getting a feel for the general impression of size and shape of a bird is so important rather then trying to just see a field mark. I believe all the participants learned a few things about identifying birds during the trip and got all their questions answered. I hope everybody had a good time and I hope to see you all on the regular monthly trips.
~ Adam Wood, OG Field Trip Coordinator, birdsondabrain@earthlink.net, 713-515-1692
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