Dave and I had a fairly good day yesterday, and hoped to see lots of ducks and shorebirds farther north along the Mississippi River. Chances of rain had increased, and the skies were fairly cloudy. Our first planned stop was at the BK Leach Conservation Area near Foley, MO. BK Leach has over 4,370 acres of some of the best wetland habitat anywhere along the St. Louis Birding Trail.
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There were a few rain sprinkles on the way there, but the rain stopped by the time we arrived. However, the wetland areas were really dry - just muddy where there should have been water. We did see some interesting birds as we drove around.
Dickcissel
Female Blue Grosbeak
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
There were lots of Bank Swallows, and I took advantage of the opportunity to get some good close-up photos.
Bank Swallows
Bank Swallows
Bank Swallows
Bank Swallows
Bank Swallow
Purple Martin
We did see a few other woodland species, and a small flock of Eurasian Tree Sparrows.
Orchard Oriole
Eurasian Tree Sparrows
The highlight of this day was a species that I didn't expect. There were Sedge Wrens everywhere! This secretive species is easy to hear, but almost impossible to see, because they spend most of the time near the ground in tall, dense vegetation. When they do fly a bit or pop up into view, it's only for a few seconds. We had quick view of a few of them, when one popped up into view and posed for about 15 seconds. Dave and I each took as many photos as we could as the grasses moved in the light wind.
Sedge Wren
Sedge Wren
Sedge Wren
Sedge Wren
Sedge Wren
We continued birding for a while at BK Leach. At one point, a small and dark-brown wren popped up for a moment - must have been a Marsh Wren that are also there. We decided to move onto our next stop at the Clarence Cannon National Wildlife Refuge 10 miles north of Elsberry, Missouri. This 3,750-acre area is managed to mimic the Mississippi River flood plain, and is flooded in the fall to provide stopover habitat for migrating waterfowl. During migration, it is not uncommon to see ducks in the hundreds of thousands and geese in the tens of thousands. I had been there once before in 2009, and we hoped to see lots of new trip species there today. But what a disappointment when we arrived. Other than a small pond by the visitor center, the Corps of Engineers had drained all of the water from the rest of refuge to make repairs. We drove around a bit, and didn't see much. I did have permission to go onto private property that is adjacent to BK Leach, so we made our way there and did a little birding. All of the marshy areas were dry, but we did hear lots of Sedge Wrens. We stopped along some sod farms south of there to look for migrating birds, but only saw a few species along the road, and then it started to rain a bit.
Red-headed Woodpecker
American Kestrels
As we continued south, it stopped raining, and we still had some time that afternoon for birding. I had never been to the Busch Conservation Area, a 6,987-acre site in St. Charles that is owned and managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation, and Dave agreed to show me around there. We saw some good birds there, and added 8 avian species to our two-day list.
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Green Heron and Killdeer
Wood Ducks, Killdeer, and juvenile Little Blue Heron; Green frog on stump
Wood Duck
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Adult and juvenile Field Sparrows
I saw some Canada Geese the next day, bringing my trip list to 67 avian species. For two days of birding during mid-August, I was quite happy with the results.
St. Louis trip list:
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
Little Blue Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Wood Duck
Turkey Vulture
Mississippi Kite
Bald Eagle
Cooper's Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Northern Bobwhite (heard only)
King Rail (heard only)
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Franklin's Gull
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin
Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Marsh Wren
Sedge Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat (heard only)
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Blue Grosbeak
Dickcissel
Field Sparrow
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
Orchard Oriole
Eastern Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch