Bird Walk on Ontario Pathways with Leona Lauster and Eaton Birding Society

Almost two dozen people gathered to watch for birds along the Ontario Pathways trail head on Route 96 in Phelps, NY on a cool and sunny morning.  Leona Lauster lead the group with folks from the Eaton Birding Society and Canandaigua Botanical Society.

Bird species spotted (and heard) include: Tennessee warblers, Magnolia Warblers, Gray catbirds, Philadelphia vireo, Swainson's thrush, chestnut sided warbler, brown headed cowbird, rose breasted grosbeak, red-bellied woodpecker, nuthatch, robins, and an American cardinal.

Leona gave this helpful hint to those new to birding: To best see a bird with your binoculars, first get the bird in your sight then while keeping watch of the bird, raise your binoculars up to your eyes to see the bird through the binoculars.  

I am not guaranteeing I have the photos captioned correctly until I receive confirmation from Leona or more knowledgeable folks than me. I did realize that I would need a better lens for my camera to get better shots of the birds.  I did find if I enlarged the photo on my computer to 200% I could scan through to locate the bird in each image.
Tennessee Warble

Robin holding nesting material for all to see
looking south from the Route 96 trail head
Gray catbird
Betsy showing Thomas the Common Yellowthroat warbler who has a black mask and sings, "witchety, withcety,witchety"

song sparrow?
approaching the first bridge on our walk

same photo as below - wider view
Thomas was very intrigued by the water
Nuthatch coming from its hole
nuthatch - (not at all camera shy)
Red bellied woodpecker


listening and watching for birds
cowbirds on the left, rose breasted grosbeak on the right
rose breasted grosbeak
Philadelphia vireo
American Robin
Perfect sunny morning
High waters evident along trail on both sides - even waterfalls
and debris across the trail
goldfinch in flight
Magnolia warbler

fast in flight
checking references
I loved that everyone was looking up for birds as Thomas was checking things out down on the ground
Chestnut sided warbler
Squirrel seen as we headed to out to our visit of the Fellenz Family Farm