This week, at work, I was assigned to check our parks. This typically involves picking up trash in parking lots and along the trails. This allowed me to go birding at some of our parks that I don't typically visit often. I submitted checklists from six of our thirteen county parks and was surprised to find that Rock Bluff provided one of the best checklists of the day. Other parks I visited included Eddyville Sand Prairie, Sycamore Natural Area, Devol Wildlife Area, Garrison Rock Resource Management Unit, and Gray Eagle Wildlife Reserve. I also made a quick stop in the bird blind at Pioneer Ridge Nature Area.
It was nice to be able to utilize the areas that I help manage. Our parks yielded 22 species and some fun photography opportunities.
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| White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) from the Pioneer Ridge bird blind. |
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| White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) flushing a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) from the feeder. |
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| Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) mid-flight. |
- Canada Goose
- Mallard
- Rock Pigeon (invasive)
- Ring-billed Gull
- Herring Gull
- Bald Eagle
- American Crow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Downy Woodpecker
- Blue Jay
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- White-breasted Nuthatch
- European Starling (invasive)
- Northern Flicker
- House Sparrow (invasive)
- American Tree Sparrow
- Northern Cardinal
- Pileated Woodpecker
- American Goldfinch
- White-throated Sparrow
This coming week the Iowa county conservation board system will be attending their annual conference, Winterfest, in Iowa City. I'm planning to take my binoculars and camera with me and go birding in some areas that I've never been to before. I'm also hoping to meet some other nature nerds that I can share adventures in the outdoors with.
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