May 1, 2016 Great Birding at Grand Vue

One of the best birding days happened on May first.  It began with four individuals meeting me at Grand Vue on this nice Saturday morning.  We began at the feeding stations with quick introductions and a statement about the red headed woodpecker that had been seen during the week.  Within a minute the bird paid us a visit, multiple times.  Next we were greeted by a rose breasted grosbeak and a scarlet tanager, almost side by side, in a tree. So we stayed by the feeding station and observed the grosbeak and downy, red bellied, hairy, and I saw a pileated at the park entrance.  So we had pretty much all of the woodpeckers on this day.  It just seemed like the birds were most accommodating as we set out for what turned out to be a slow walk.  Slow walks are a sign of good birding as we continually stopped to observe.  Bluebird nest boxes and hatched chicks were noted.  Then Northern Oriole, yellow-billed cuckoos, yellow throats, and a yellow throated verios were observed.  A group of 4 redstarts made them selves available right in front of us.   House wrens, brown thrasher, and other more commons were everywhere.  The place was full of great birds and we got good looks at all of them.  And these are all newly arrived resident birds that will remain here for the summer.  But on this day, with bright skies, and NO LEAVES it was an opportunity for which I was most thankful. Hopefully this Saturday will be equally rewarding.  Hope to see some warblers too.  Everyone enjoyed and I anticipate the return of these four, and probably some new guests as well. See you at 9:00 on Saturday.