Grand Vue December 28, 2012

Today I hiked Grand Vue for about two hours. I set out to map the coordinates for each of all 12 nest boxes. When I first arrived around noon I noted many birds at the feeding stations. A pileated woodpecker as well as downey, hairy, and red bellied all were feeding at suet cakes. Many other birds but I took the time to count 43 mourning doves. I also noted a red breasted nuthatch as well as 3 white breasted nuthatches. After my walk I again counted a large flock of birds, this time 62 cowbirds!

December 30 2010 Oglebay and Grandvue

I walked the trail at Oglebay again looking for the winter wren. After an icy morning on the 29th I rescheduled the walk for the 30th. I did not see the wren but many other more common birds. I was also hoping for a kinglet or two, but that did not happen either. Good to report that the new hiking boots did a nice job!

On the way home the sun came out and I decided on a hike at Grandvue. All boxes are up and I hope to make a few more this winter. I hiked off of the muddy trails and down the point toward Glen Dale Creek which is my breeding bird block. I noted several old Oriole nests and several old hawk nests as well.

I did see multiple times a mature Red Tailed Hawk which flew and screemed from one side of the valley to the other. I had good close visuals of the bird from my vantage point above. Also, a pileated woodpecker within 25 feet was a good bird to see.