Birdwalk Highlights for 7/25: Old Town House Park, North Yarmouth.

It was delightful walk on a delightful summer morning at one of our favorite breeding season hotspots. But breeding season is wrapping up, as evidenced by the lack of Bobolinks today - another batch of young successfully fledged from this protected colony!

We began the walk with a surprising BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER near the parking lot. Another pleasant surprise was a (albeit distant) calling YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO!

Other highlights included an exceptional look at one of the 2-3 WILLOW FLYCATCHERS that we encountered today, a VEERY carrying food, and eventually great looks at one of the 5 WARBLING VIREOS we detected. Two BROAD-WINGED HAWKS - one hunting in the woods and one soaring low overhead - gave a good perspective on the various behaviors of this spiffy raptor, and it was nice to see both adult and fresh juvenile RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER and YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS.

Other birds tallied today were typical of the park at this season, but the numbers were goodly as usual, including, but not limited to: 30 SONG SPARROWS, 20 GRAY CATBIRDS, 15 CEDAR WAXWINGS, 10 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, 9 RED-EYED VIREOS (including a great look at a family group), 4 YELLOW WARBLERS, 2 BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS, 2 CHIMNEY SWIFTS, 2 BARN SWALLOWS, 2 RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS, and one each of PURPLE FINCH, GREEN HERON (heard-only), and ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK.