On Saturday, April 15, sixteen hardy souls met to tour around the Hartford Audubon property, Greenstone Hollow.  We had temperatures in the upper 50’s and lower 60’s, unusually warm for this time of year.  The water levels in the South Beaver Pond were very good and bode well for possible heron activity and nesting birds later this spring.  We saw 26 species of birds which are listed below.  We also had one sighting of an unknown raptor which flew quickly over our heads but we were not able to identify it with certainty.  It was smallish and we considered a Sharp-shinned Hawk to be a possibility, but since the walk, I have learned that a pair of Merlins have been seen several times by Susan and Sammy Samuels whose property abuts the refuge.  So it is quite possible that this could have been a Merlin.  We birded for just under 3 hours and walked just under 2 miles.  Here’s a list of the birds we saw.
Chris & Diane Fisher – Trip Leaders
3 Wood Duck
3 Mallard
2 Mourning Dove
2 Great Blue Heron
3 Turkey Vulture
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker
2 Eastern Phoebe
20 Blue Jay
1 American Crow
10 Black-capped Chickadee
4 Tufted Titmouse
2 Tree Swallow
2 Carolina Wren
1 American Robin
2 American Goldfinch
1 Chipping Sparrow
1 Dark-eyed Junco
16 White-throated Sparrow
20 Song Sparrow
15 Red-winged Blackbird
1 Brown-headed Cowbird
1 Palm Warbler
20 Northern Cardinal