Birds of Goose Island

Birding at Goose Island State Park is always a treat although right now, we have a slight dearth of species since some of the winter birds (Eastern Phoebe for example) have left and the migrants and nesters are yet to arrive. Still, it’s normal to get 30 or more species on woods bird walks and over 50 on the shore walk. Then, just up the road are still the Whooping Cranes that spend each winter in a farmer’s field.

We got here a day or so ago and got the campsite that we like and I’ve logged 54 birds so far in rather laid-back birding. Here are some photos that I took to give a sense of the variety here:

This Great Blue Heron is developing breeding plumage. A Little Blue Heron We have seen several Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, perched and in action.  Always a treat. A Tri-colored Heron A Great Egret checking out the Tri-colored Heron

 

This Forster's Tern was working hard for lunch.

We are expecting a cold front tomorrow (72 down to 63!) and hope it produces a little warbler fallout action. We are here another week and I hope to hit 100 birds in the county by then – it’s fun to sort out the shorebirds once again.