My Big Month - Day 24

I took another day off of birding yesterday but was back to Palmer Lake Park this afternoon after getting out of work early for Memorial Day weekend. The weather was near perfect and I saw a LOT of good birds as well as some other interesting mammals including Deer, Muskrat and a Raccoon that was snoozing in an old Cooper's Hawk nest! This was kind of a neat sighting as I don't often see Raccoons at the park. This was only my 3rd sighting ever at PLP, though I've heard they used to be more common in the area. Other good highlights included seeing a Red-eyed Vireo, two Spotted Sandpipers, and then successfully identifying a Great-crested Flycatcher by sound first. Later I was able to see him as well but he was too high up in the treetops for a good photo. But the first bird I wanted to post a photo of today was this little Sparrow that caught my eye. It had a fairly obvious patch of bright yellow above the eye. I'd seen one of these guys once before and thinking that it was just any other Sparrow with maybe the light reflecting weird or something, I never took a photo. Only later did I realize that it might have been a Savannah Sparrow. Though I think they are pretty common, you'd have to pay close attention to you're Sparrows in order to spot one. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself being able to identify at least a few different Sparrow now as in the beginning I thought I'd never be able to tell them apart. I've since learned that there are other groups of birds that are much harder to identify –such as Flycatchers for starters. Later on the north side I spotted a group of four Wild Turkeys. One was for sure a male and he was displaying for the females in between chasing them back and forth across the trail. This was in the exact same place I'd witnessed the same behavior about 2 weeks back. I was able to get extremely close to the male. Actually he was the one that came up close to me and I got the feeling he wasn't too pleased with me. I didn't budge and he walked up to within maybe 6 feet of me! I got to take quite a few photos from this short distance and I am always amazed at the color and complexity of their face and plumage. They are quite interesting birds and always fun to see. I even got to watch a couple of the females fly a short distance across a drainage ditch in hopes of avoiding the aggressive male.

Total species seen today: Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Tennessee Warbler, Spotted Sandpiper, Least Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, Blue Jay, American Robin, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, American Crow, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woopecker, Northern Cardinal, Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, Gray Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Mourning Dove, Osprey, Turkey Vulture, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Common Nighthawk, White-breasted Nuthatch, Ring-necked Pheasant, Wild Turkey, Mallard and Canada Goose.

Conditions: 75 degrees, partly sunny, a handful of raindrops.