Seven Years and Lots of Birds!

Hello!~~

For the past seven years, Dan and I have birded our wonderful neighborhoods of Raymondale and Holmes Run Acres and the surrounding woodlands: Luria Park, Providence Rec Center woods, and Fairview Park. These places have given us great views of over 100 different birds. Some are year round residents, some are summer or winter residents, and a great number are migratory birds passing through pausing long enough to take advantage of the green spaces, ponds and streams in and surrounding our neighborhoods. 

(Black-throated Blue Warbler (13 May, near Providence Rec, Center)

We have photographed and recorded the birds we have seen over seven years. Our photos of the local birds number in the hundreds to a thousand. We feel truly blessed to have so many birds residing or visiting our parklands/woods that only requires us to walk less than two miles to experience it from end to end.

(Brown Creeper, 21 March, in Luria Park woods)

Each outing during spring and fall migration season gives us heightened expectation to add yet another bird to the list posted below.  It is an incredible gift that our little parcel of green inside the Beltway is attractive to over 100 diverse bird species. 

(Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 3 May, Luria Park)

These green spaces are so valuable to birds. By a wide margin the greatest threat to birds, especially migratory birds, is habitat loss. Imagine you are a tiny warbler migrating northward in spring along the US east coast, the Atlantic flyway, and you look down and see rooftops, asphalt and concrete. You desperately need a rest, an insect buffet, and a drink of water. Then you see tree tops and the sun or full moon glinting off of a trickling stream or small pond. That is as welcome to a tired migratory songbird as a "Vacancy" sign is to a weary interstate traveler. Luria Park along Holmes Run to the Fairview Park ponds offers that critical respite to many a migratory bird along the Atlantic coast super migration highway.

(Spotted Sandpiper, 13 May, Fairview Park small pond)

 We encourage you to get out there with binoculars and see what is hiding in plan sight in our woods and backyards. Here is a checklist of what we've seen to get you started. And you may very well, and we hope you do, find one that is not on this list that we've taken seven years to compile. Let us know and happy birding!~~Dan and Beth Fedorko

(Red-winged Blackbird, 13 May, Fairview Park small pond)

 Checklist of Birds Observed in Raymondale, Holmes Run Acres, Luria Park, Providence Rec Center woods, and Fairview Park:

 

WOODPECKERS:

___Downy Woodpecker

___Hairy Woodpecker

___Red-bellied Woodpecker

___Red-headed Woodpecker

___Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

___Pileated Woodpecker

___Northern Flicker

RAPTORS:

___Merlin

___Mississippi Kite

___Red-shouldered Hawk

___Red-tailed Hawk

___Cooper’s Hawk

___American Kestral

___Barred Owl

___Black Vulture

___Turkey Vulture

___Bald Eagle

WATERFOWL, FISHERS, AND WADERS:

___Mallard

___Wood Duck

___Great Blue Heron

___Green Heron

___Double-crested Cormorant

___Yellow-crowned Night Heron

___Black-crowned Night Heron
___Spotted Sandpiper

___Canada Goose

___Belted Kingfisher

WARBLERS AND THE LIKE:

___Black-throated Green Warbler

___Black and White Warbler

___Blackpoll Warbler

___Yellow-rumped Warbler

___Canada Warbler

___Prairie Warbler

___Yellow Warbler

___Black-throated Blue Warbler

___Blue-winged Warbler

___Cape May Warbler

___Common Yellowthroat

___White-eyed Vireo

___Red-eyed Vireo

___Blue-headed Vireo

___American Redstart

___Magnolia Warbler

___Pine Warbler

___Northern Parula

___Palm Warbler

___Blackburnian Warbler

___Bay-breasted Warbler

___Yellow-breasted Chat

JAYS AND THEIR KIN:

___Blue Jay

___American Crow

___Common Grackle

___European Starling

___Red-winged Blackbird

___Rusty Blackbird

___Northern Mockingbird

___Brown-headed Cowbird

___Gray Catbird

THRUSHES AND FOWL:

___American Robin

___Hermit Thrush

___Louisiana Waterthrush

___Northern Waterthrush

___Veery

___Brown Thrasher

___Wild Turkey

___Swainsons Thrush

___Wood Thrush

___Ovenbird

FINCHES AND GROSBEAKS:

___Northern Cardinal

___American Goldfinch

___Blue Grosbeak

___Rose-breasted Grosbeak

___Purple Finch

___House Finch

___Tufted Titmouse

___Cedar Waxwing

___Pine Siskin

SONG BIRDS AND INSECT EATERS:

___Carolina Chickadee

___Mourning Dove

___Carolina Wren

___Winter Wren

___House Wren

___White-breasted Nuthatch

___Red-breasted Nuthatch

___Eastern Bluebird

___Tree Swallow

___Eastern Phoebe

___Dark-eyed Junco

___Brown Creeper

___Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

___Ruby-crowned Kinglet

___Golden-crowned Kinglet

___Great Crested Flycatcher

___Eastern Wood-pewee

___Chimney Swift

___Scarlet Tanager

___Indigo Bunting

___Baltimore Oriole

___Yellow-billed Cuckoo

SPARROWS:

___Swamp Sparrow

___Field Sparrow

___Song Sparrow

___House Sparrow

___Chipping Sparrow

HUMMINGBIRD:

___Ruby-throated Hummingbird