On 3/31/07 I took a short drive down to the Newport Wetlands in Mill Creek Park.  Interesting sightings included:

  7  wild turkey hens; 1 was white with brown stripes.  I have never seen a white wild turkey, is this unusual?

  Also happened upon a chickadee excavating a nest right next to the boardwalk in the same area as last years nesting cavity.  I was only 5 or 6 feet away from it... AWESOME!  I've never seen them in the act of  excavating a cavity before.

  The female kingfisher is back (kingfishers are my favorite birds).  I think she was checking out a site for a possible  nesting area.  I will go back later to check it out.

  5 male wood ducks and 1 female.

  1 male bluebird

  2 male cardinals were fighting over a female

  The resident E. phoebe is back.

  killdeer

  Mallards

  Saw a large hawk perched in a tree on the island where a pair of red-tails had nested last year.  The nest does not look like it is being used by anything this year, and I really couldn't tell if it was a red-tail that was perched in the tree.  I couldn't get a good enough look.  The tail looked too dark, and the breast was white at the top, then darker in the middle and the bottom.  Do first year's have their adult plumage, or would they still have their juvenile plumage?

  I did find a red-shouldered nest on the other side of Lanterman Falls (on the other side of 62, just before the sign for the view of Lanterman Falls).  The male has been hanging out by the nest in the mornings.  I saw the female fly to the nest once on 3/18, but have not seen any action at the nest since then.  There is usually nobody there in the afternoon and evenings.  The nest looks new and has fresh pine branches in it.  Hopefully they will be using it soon.  It's in a perfect spot to get a great view.  This is the first hawk nest I've ever found on my own.

  Ring-necked ducks passed through the wetlands a couple of weeks ago.  That was a new life bird for me.  The white banding on the bill cinched the identification for me.

  A pair of red-bellied woodpeckers may be nesting on the island in the future.  I saw them hanging around a cavity that I plan to check out at a later date.

  Of course there were plenty of red-winged blackbirds, song sparrows, and Canada geese.

  I was hoping to see a couple of sandpipers (solitary and spotted) migrating through, but no luck.

  Sorry this message is so  long.  I'll keep them shorter in the future.

  Trish





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