We at Wellfield are so lucky to have Mary Kauffmann-Kennel as a resource for our fledgling birding program. A Master Naturalist and member of The Audubon Society, Mary leads our 2nd Saturday bird walks and posts her observations to ebird.org, a real-time, online checklist maintained by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and The Audubon Society. We asked Mary to write about her observations and give us tips for bird watching at Wellfield. Please join her Saturday, May 13th at 8am for our May Birdwalk, (you can register HERE). May 13th happens to be Global Big Day 2017; we are excited to be a part of it! Thank you, Mary, for all you do for Wellfield!
For the past year and a half, I have been roaming the gardens of Wellfield, observing what birds visit, live or breed here.
Year round birds include: American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, Black capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Song Sparrow, White Breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Mallard and Canada Goose. You can expect to see or hear these on just about any visit to the gardens.
Birds that breed in or near the Gardens include the year round birds, plus: Baltimore Oriole, Warbling Vireo, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Red-Headed Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Kingbird, Wood Duck. These birds arrive in the spring when food (insects!) becomes available. They have wintered anywhere from the southern United States to South America.
Many birds stop in for refueling in the spring and fall on their way to and from nesting grounds in Canada and Alaska. This makes for a fun treasure hunt, as they may be here for several weeks or just a day. Kinglets and Warblers make up most of this group.
Tips for finding birds at Wellfield: Look in the tall trees around the ponds for Orioles, Vireos, Gnatcatchers, Kingbirds. Search the woods areas for migrating warblers as well as Titmice, Nuthatches and Chickadees. Look for Woodpeckers in tall trees and along any dead branches. Keep an eye out for Wood Ducks in the creek beyond the fence. Watch for swallows flying low over the water. Keep an eye on the sky for Chimney Swifts, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawks, and Turkey Vultures. Mallards and Canada Geese? … on any and every pond!
Join the fun in documenting your bird sightings when you visit Wellfield! You do not have to be an expert. Just document the birds you know. The more people that do this, the better idea we have of what birds visit this beautiful space. To get started, visit ebird.org.
Register for the bird walk HERE – we hope you can join us for Global Big Day 2017. See you in the Gardens!