Field Ornithology Journal #2

On Tuesday, May 25th I went to Sands Road Park in Lothian MD. The temperature was 78 degrees, cloudy, and moderately windy the entire day, and I was there from 7:15 AM - 12 PM. The park consisted of a vast grassland with about thigh high dry grasses, and a deciduous forest surrounding it. There was one paved path that went about 100 feet into the grass but ended there, and there were a few trees dispersed along the edge of the grass before the habitat turned into forest. The only shrubs were a few near the edge trees, but mainly the habitat consisted of high grass and then some trees. In the grass its self, the only species observed was the Blue Grosbeaks, and Yellow-breasted Chat, and neither of these species were observed in the the trees. They were seen hopping between grasses and perching on some low shrubs, and they were both very fast moving.There were generalists found flying across the grass, landing in it, and flying in the trees such as the Red-winged Blackbirds and Northern Mockingbird, and American Crows and Common Ravens were observed flying over head. In the trees, more song birds were observed like the Indigo Bunting, Common Yellowthroat, and multiple sparrow and warbler species. They were flying between trees and often multiple species were seen on a single tree. Additionally, larger species like Eastern Kingbirds and Eastern Towhees were observed in some of the taller trees. I saw the same two Northern Mockingbirds chasing each other, interacting in the air, and calling to each other which I thought was really interesting to see. I've never spent much time in grasslands so it was really interesting to see which species were there but also overwhelming!

Posted on May 25, 2021 09:31 PM by iadeslaw