FJ Grass-Shrubland

Date: 23 May 2021
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (There was a big storm that seemed unsafe to drive in earlier so I went later)
Location: Geprags Community Park
Weather: Cloudy (intermittent temporary sun by 4:00 p.m.), strong wind, 57ºF
Habitats: There was tall grass fields throughout the property with what looked like young mustard plants and various hay/straw species about knee height. There was plenty of young successional trees and brush (mostly maple and birch) from 4-6 ft. Honey suckle was prevalent throughout the property. A lot of the brush seemed perhaps to be berry bushes. The older trees on the property were mostly Eastern White Pines, some American Beech trees, and different Ash trees. There was also a marshy area towards the West side of the property (if looking at it from the road) that had cut reeds (someone had cleared it), some cattails, and some small standing bodies of water. These areas did not really have grass growing in them (I think it could've been too wet or the substrate wasn't sturdy enough) so it went from the cut reeds straight to the green shrubs.

-I saw a black bird with what looked like a red chest and maybe white wing bars (there was white somewhere). Obviously I didn't get a picture of it (most of my pictures are terrible if I can even get them) but it was pretty cool!
-The Red-tailed Hawk was definitely my favorite bird of the day because it was much brighter and prettier than I thought it would be. Hearing at least what I think was a Veery was also really cool!

Grassland birds: Barn Swallow, Brown Thrasher
Shrubland birds: American Goldfinch, Ovenbird, Veery, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Eastern Phoebe

Posted on 24 May, 2021 01:41 by catherinegullo22