Saturday at the Park

The Soccer Fields and Hills at Sacred Heart Park in Andover, MA 4-7-12

Signs of spring are everywhere at the park where I like to go birding. Red maple tree flowers are highlighted against the brown oak woods. The Soccer goals have been set out again, waiting for the spring games to begin. An eastern white pine towers above the parking lot, soccer field and train bridge, a green sentinel in every season. Though the sun is shining on this Saturday between Good Friday and Easter the clouds are rolling in rapidly and I am soon walking beneath a sky of dove gray cotton wool. Though the temperature reads 52F, a chill wind cuts through me and I pull on my gloves as I walk across the open field towards the river and the woods. It is 2 p.m. and a few robins dot the lawn as I pass by.

Down in the woodland I stop by a small pond where I saw a Fox Sparrow a week ago. Today I hear the red-winged blackbirds call and a Northern Flicker screams in the woods, but there are no Fox Sparrows to be found today.

A common grackle seeks out a perch on a tall snag.

An American goldfinch inspects a tree for food.

New shoots from some aquatic plant are greening up and pointing up to the sky.

Here in the woodland cove there are hints of green everywhere.

I stop to reflect at the river’s bend just like the trees mirrored below me.

These are calm waters for this dry spring we are having. Fire danger is very high. We need a good soaking rain.

How peaceful it is down here in this forest glen.

And the Shawsheen River just keeps on flowing by.

While the old oak tree just laughs at me.

So I head up the path back towards the soccer fields and parking lot.

But then…

In a flash of movement I find a red-bellied woodpecker high in a tree…

 

looking down on me with the flashiest red Mohawk and the sharpest black and white coat over his tawny body. What a handsome fellow he is!

I continued my path around the soccer field just to be sure I saw every bird I could see. As I headed back to the parking lot where Gus was waiting for me in my car I looked up to see a Cooper’s Hawk flying rapidly across the open grass to the woods on the far side where it disappeared into some trees. Another new species for this location and my eBird Site Survey bringing the total to 42 Species so far and migration is only beginning!

My Site Survey consists of an area of 6.8 acres in Sacred Heart Park in Andover Massachusetts. It includes the eastern soccer fields along Burnham Road and the wooded area along the Shawsheen River that connects this part of the park to the track and field at the northwest corner of the park. I do not include the track and field as part of my Site Survey because the total area would be too large and the track and field is often the busiest area with walkers, runners, and kids playing. I do this count as an Area Count which gives me the freedom to wander all over and suits this irregularly shaped area well. I was able to measure out the area for an accurate measurement by using Google Planimeter.

Birds Seen at Sacred Heart Park on Saturday, April 7, 2012:

1. Mallard
2. Cooper’s Hawk
3. Ring-billed Gull
4. Red-bellied woodpecker
5. Downy woodpecker
6. Hairy woodpecker
7. Northern flicker (yellow-shafted)
8. Eastern Phoebe
9. American Crow
10. Black-capped chickadee
11. Tufted titmouse
12. White-breasted Nuthatch
13. American Robin
14. Song Sparrow
15. White-throated sparrow
16. Northern Cardinal
17. Common Grackle
18. Red-winged Blackbird
19. House finch
20. American Goldfinch
21. House Sparrow

Click on the link to read a poem about, An Early Spring Walk in the Evening  at Sacred Heart Park.