Of birds and trails… – Sun, Moon, Stars (Alice's Grand Adventures)

On Saturday morning, I joined a small group organized by the Grand Island Nature Alliance, also known as GINA, for a bird watching walk in Beaver Island State Park, guided by Alec Humann. He is an expert birder who has taken groups to see birds in such places as Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Europe and the United States. This walk was originally scheduled for Saturday, May 3rd, but it rained all day, so the walk was postponed.

We started our walk at the East River Marsh, where the kayak launch is located. The first bird we noticed was a vividly colored Baltimore Oriole. I looked at it in amazement, but I didn’t attempt to take its picture because, with my camera, the bird would look like a little dot. Mostly, I took pictures of plants and the beauty of the trails in Beaver Island State Park. As a disclaimer, I should say that I am not a birder, but I enjoy looking at and attempting to identify the birds. So, this is probably more a story about an adventure than it is about the multitude of bird species that we encountered on the journey. The bird pictures that I am sharing were taken by Liz Zilbauer, who was also on the walk.

Isn’t this a gorgeous bird? The orioles have traveled north to breed, and they will be here for a while. They fly back south late in July. When they go, their migration will take them to Florida, Central America, and the northern parts of South America.

We walked on the trail that starts at the East River Marsh and ends at River Lea, where the Grand Island Historical Society has its home. The walk was relatively slow, and Alec talked about the birds that we saw, although most flitted past like shadows. Sometimes, I spotted them. He also showed us nests attached to tree branches. Alec told uis about cowbirds, which are nest parasites. The bird lays an egg in the nest of a different bird. Then the cowbird egg hatches. The little bird proceeds to kick out the other eggs (I guess they would be the foster siblings) from the nest.

Trail between the East River Marsh and River Lea

My plant identification app says that this is a Siberian bugloss. The flowers are small and delicate and a delightful shade of blue. Seeing all of these flowering plants is one of the benefits of walking the trails at this time of year.

I am not sure what this is, but it’s a pretty plant that grows along the trail.

When we were close to the gates that lead out of the trail and to River Lea, we turned toward another trail. It was an interesting hike and the trail was beautiful: full of vernal pools and so many trees. For me, the birds were challenging to spot, but Alec named a wide variety of birds that he saw as we walked. Among the birds that were flitting around were warblers. They tend to like dense foliage, to fly around quickly, and to be elusive. I was excited just to spot the quckly moving yellow of a warbler body.

Alec also identified bird songs. That was definitely a highlight of the walk. The park felt alive with the music of birds, and they all had different songs. Some of the birds were incredibly musical, and it was delightful to listen to the birds sing.