Leaders: Kathy Horn, Roger Horn
Temp: 78°F
Winds: NW 5-15mph
Weather Conditions: sunny
The State Park was very birdy this morning with flocks of American Redstarts, Black-and-white and Prairie Warblers, and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers scattered throughout. But perhaps the most interesting thing we saw was an encounter between an Eastern cicada killer (a wasp, Sphecius speciosis) and a cicada. We watched as the cicada killer tackled the cicada, flipped it onto it’s back, then proceeded to paralyze it and carry it off, across the forest floor and straight up a tree trunk where it would eventually become food for the wasp’s grub-like larvae. It was pretty amazing to see the wasp carrying the much bigger cicada straight up that tree.
53 species
| Species | Count |
| Canada Goose | 10 |
| Mute Swan | 32 |
| Wood Duck | 2 |
| Mallard | 65 |
| Mourning Dove | 6 |
| Chimney Swift | 5 |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 2 |
| Semipalmated Plover | 2 |
| Killdeer | 1 |
| Sanderling | 65 |
| Least Sandpiper | 1 |
| Short-billed Dowitcher | 15 |
| Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher | 6 |
| Laughing Gull | 38 |
| Herring Gull (American) | 6 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 12 |
| Least Tern | 15 |
| Common Tern | 18 |
| Forster’s Tern | 9 |
| Royal Tern | 4 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 2 |
| Green Heron | 3 |
| White Ibis | 11 |
| Turkey Vulture | 1 |
| Osprey (carolinensis) | 5 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 |
| Eastern Wood-Pewee | 1 |
| Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill’s Flycatcher) | 2 |
| Great Crested Flycatcher | 1 |
| Eastern Kingbird | 14 |
| White-eyed Vireo | 3 |
| American Crow | 3 |
| Fish Crow | 2 |
| Carolina Chickadee | 9 |
| Purple Martin | 10 |
| Tree Swallow | 150 |
| Barn Swallow (American) | 41 |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (caerulea) | 9 |
| Carolina Wren (Northern) | 10 |
| Gray Catbird | 3 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 2 |
| American Robin | 3 |
| House Finch | 1 |
| American Goldfinch | 2 |
| Field Sparrow | 2 |
| Bobolink | 60 |
| Red-winged Blackbird (Red-winged) | 221 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 31 |
| Northern Waterthrush | 1 |
 Northern Waterthrush photo by Kathy Horn |
|
 Northern Waterthrush photo by Kathy Horn |
|
 Northern Waterthrush photo by Kathy Horn |
|
| Black-and-white Warbler | 6 |
 Black-and-white Warbler photo by Kathy Horn |
|
 Black-and-white Warbler photo by Kathy Horn |
|
 Black-and-white Warbler photo by Kathy Horn |
|
| Common Yellowthroat | 4 |
| American Redstart | 7 |
| Yellow Warbler (Northern) | 7 |
| Prairie Warbler | 3 |
| Northern Cardinal | 7 |
