for the birds: greater yellowlegs

The Nasketucket Bird Club does a bird count once a month at the Bay Club in Mattapoisett.  I did the count back in January.  It was my first time birding with the club.  For a cold January day we saw quite a few birds.  In anticipation for the bird count this past weekend I expected to see even more birds for the bird this time.  Saturday ended up being one of the coldest days of the month, and definitely colder than then the day we went birding in January.  My fingers were cold, but the birds were plenty.

After the bird count, we headed to Mattapoisett Harbor to find some shore birds.  We parked our cars and walked the beach, crossed a river using a not so common footbridge, and meandered through the marsh where we spotted four greater yellowlegs.  It being the first time I have ever lived in an area with shore birds, and never seeing greater yellowlegs before, was excited about the sighting.  We also saw the first osprey for the year. And had the chance to see the osprey in action as it dove and came up with a fish from a local river. Those weren’t the only birds we saw that day:

American Robin, Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, Brown-headed Cowbird, Tufted Titmouse, Red-winged Blackbird, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Herring Gull, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, Canada Goose, White-breasted Nuthatch, Osprey, Common Grackle, Mallard, Bufflehead, Tree Swallow, Red-tailed Hawk,Carolina Wren, Mute Swan, Black Duck, Double-Crested Cormorant, Red-breasted Merganser, Greater Yellowlegs, Great Black-backed Gull, Song Sparrow, Mourning Dove, House Sparrow,Turkey Vulture, and an Eastern Bluebird.

Bird of the week: Greater Yellowlegs.  A bird often found in April and May, this bird was a great find for a cold March day.

First sightings for the year: osprey, greater yellowlegs, and turkey vulture 

Life birds: Greater yellowlegs

(Life) Birds I want to see this year:   
American Kestrel (seen on 2/27/2010) 
Horned Lark 
Eastern Meadowlark
An owl