We had a great turnout at the Watkins Lake SP on Tuesday.  After the perfunctory observation of the Northern Mockingbird at the parking lot we packed up for the carpool to the trailhead.

Our destination was the western edge of the property along an old railroad grade called the Fay Lake Trail.  The parking is not developed there and a crew from NCR was there working on habitat restoration.  We got all ten of us into three cars and then squeezed those cars into a standard midwestern-sized parking space.

As mentioned, the railroad grade trail is flat and traverses a tamarack swamp on both sides.  The juniper berries, tamarack cones, and poison sumac berries were pretty well eaten, so there was not a lot of activity on our walk to the east. 

(Brenda Wineman)

The trail goes thorough the standard cut and fill landscape that kept the railroad bed at a flat grade.  The cut areas provided a bit of change in habitat and we did get a Hermit Thrush.   This aptly named bird made it difficult for some in the group to see or hear him.

He was not the only thrush as we got lots of Eastern Bluebird and American Robin on the walk.  Just when we thought we'd get no good winter bird, a group of Purple Finch were spotted to the west.  Unfortunately, about half the group had already passed the area the birds were located.  The birds kept their distance as we moved toward them and the sun we had been enjoying took a cloud break.  So we never got a crisp scope view.  

(Brenda Wineman)

All thirteen birds were female.  Thanks Don & Brenda for the photos.  It was a good finish for a winter bird walk.

(Don Henise)

Back at the parking lot we had a brief moment of silence for our good JAS and Haehnle Sanctuary friend Chuck Mekbel who passed away at Watkins Lake during a bird walk on a cold and cloudy day in 2019.  After our memorial, I was able to remember to get a group shot before leaving.

(Steve Jerant)

Total species:  23

Watkins Lake SP parking lot checklist:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S211039851

Fay Lake Checklist:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S211040467