EVENING FIELD TRIP TO GRAND VALLEY STATE COLLEGE
May 13, 1997
Michael Lombardo led a group of seven people on an evening field trip to Grand Valley State College. We observed his field full of Tree Swallow nesting boxes and also took a walk along the Grand River. Michael had 10 nesting boxes with active nests in them and anticipated having 40-50 active nests this year. He opened one of the boxes and showed everyone a nest which had eggs in it. He also had a Bluebird using one of the boxes. He opened this box to show everyone that two of the four Bluebird eggs had just hatched. Also nesting in the field was a Killdeer. On approaching her nest, she began feigning a broken wing to try and lead us away from her eggs. We took a quick look at her four eggs and then let her get back to her nest. Also seen in the field was a Savannah Sparrow sitting on a fence and an Eastern Meadowlark perched high up in a tree.
Next we went for a walk along the Grand River. Here we saw three different types of woodpeckers, a Downy, a Hairy and a Red-bellied Woodpecker A House Wren was seen climbing in the bushes along the river and a Brewer's Blackbird was seen in a swampy area on the opposite side of the road. Barn and Bank Swallows were catching bugs over the river, a Kingfisher was perched in a bush on the opposite bank, and a Wood Duck went flying by over the river.
Being a cold spring, warblers were late in arriving. However, we did see several Yellow-rumped, a few Black-and-white, and a Palm Warbler. Also observed were Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Northern Orioles. In all we counted 35 species of birds during the evening.
Submitted by Jan Maher
