Great morning at Selleck's/Dunlap Woods (lots of photos, too)

(Click on “read more” and scroll to bottom for more photos of today’s (Saturday, March 24, walk.)

It was a fun and productive morning of birding at Selleck’s/Dunlap Woods in Darien today. The species list (listed below) totaled 30 types of birds. Not to mention the muskrats and snakes I also saw.

Spring migration has definitely started and it’s a bit ahead of schedule. A pine warbler greeted me with its song as I stepped out of the car. Pine warblers usually show up in early April. I also found a Louisiana waterthrush near the pond. Also a week or two head of schedule. The blossoms on a lot of the trees mark an early spring, too.

The pond was a sight to see this morning with six wood ducks sharing the water with the usual mallards. Great blue herons and great egrets also hunted along the shoreline.

Eastern phoebes were all over the woods as chickadees, titmice and nuthatches checked out nesting sites. On the fringes, Carolina wrens and northern cardinals battled out for air space with their loud, clear songs.

All in all, a fun morning in the woods. It also drove home the importance of having places like Selleck’s/Dunlap Woods in our communities. Birds need open space, whether for breeding or migration stopovers. (Support your local Land Trust and other conservation organizations!)

It also made clear the importance of keeping dogs on leashes in such places. I know dog owners like to let their dogs run free and I’m sure the dogs like it, too. But many of the birding activity today took place on or near the ground. The waterthrush, for example, is almost always found near the ground. The wrens, nuthatches, hermit thrush, robins and blue jays were also on the ground for a good portion of the time, looking for food and nesting material. Free-roaming dogs are certainly a detriment to that chore.

Here are the birds I found. Not bad for March: Louisiana waterthrush, pine warbler, eastern phoebe, Carolina wren, black-capped chickadee, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, hermit thrush, downy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, northern flicker, American crow, red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawk, great blue heron, great egret, wood duck, mallard, American robin, northern cardinal, blue jay, American goldfinch, Canada goose, herring gull, ruby-crowned kinglet, golden-crowned kinglet, white-throated sparrow, common grackle, and red-winged blackbird.

Here are some more photos of the walk. Granted, they aren’t all great photos, but they were all taken on this walk and represent the variety of bird species present.