The 2006 Big Sit at Sims Park was marked by 13 hours of glorious fall weather and a few surprises. Delores Cole and Lisa Chapman started at 5:30a.m. and were able to pick up the call of the Screech Owl before daybreak. The morning progressed with spurts of warblers being deposited, sometimes right over our heads. Six species of warblers in all with yellow-rumped the predominate. A Cooper’s Hawk flew by twice. Other club participants dropped in for the morning including Nancy Anderson, Paula Lozano, Claire Johnson, and in the afternoon Nancy Renkert and MaryLyn Hara. Non-members Juan Lozano, Virginia Ehrbar, and Pauline Farmer also contributed. The lake was not as busy as last year yielding only three species of gulls, cormorant, few ducks and a lone red-breasted merganser. The afternoon surprise was an immature Bald Eagle flying low along the shore line. Five species of woodpeckers contributed to our total of 43 species for the day.

Species List (43)

Canada Goose - 130
Mallard - 7
Red-Breasted Merganser - 1
Double-Crested Cormorant - 25
Bald Eagle - juv. - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Killdeer - 3
Ring-billed Gull - xx+
Herring Gull - 5
Great Black-Backed Gull - 1
Mourning Doves - 2
Screech Owl - (heard) - 1
Chimney Swifts - 30
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Hairy Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 1
Eastern Wood Pewee - 1
Blue Jay - 12
Black-capped Chickadee (heard) -1
White Breasted Nuthatch (heard) - 1
Brown Creeper  - 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 4
Ruby-crowned kinglet  6
American Robins - 5
Northern Mockingbird - 1
European Starlings - 3
Nashville Warbler - 2
Magnolia Warbler - 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 20
Black-throated Green - 3
Palm Warbler - 1
Song Sparrow - 2
White-throated Sparrow - 9
Dark-eyed Junco - 1
Northern Cardinal - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 5
House Finch - 10
American Goldfinch - 10
House Sparrow - 3
 

Outside of Count Circle (9)

Rock Pigeon - 1
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Winter Wren - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 1
Northern Parula - 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1
Blackburnian - 1
Blackpoll Warbler - 1