Monday June 11, 2012 Auburn Environmental Park

Birding and a two year old don't really go together too well. We had gone out on June 9 to Mima Mounds and Scatter Creek but hadn't seen anything new. It was fun being out with Libby and Liam so it really didn't matter if we added birds or not. But today Liam was going to spend the evening with his other grandparents so Libby wanted to try to get some birding in. We thought we might go to Kent but on the way we passed the new Auburn Environmental Park on the way and decided to stop by to check it out. Little did we know it would turn out to be our destination. First stop was the birding tower that anchors the site. There were cedar waxwings, robins and tree swallows. Then down to the brand new boardwalk. We could hear wrens but weren't sure what kind. After finally getting a good look we recognized a bewicks wren (#141), that was unexpected but sweet. We also heard another call we didn't know. Rudy said he saw something running among the reeds, we figured it might be the bird making the sound. Finally we got a good glimpse, it was a cute, evasive Virginia rail (#142). Very cool. Down the walk we saw a yellow warbler and many more waxwings and a flicker. The boardwalk goes through a number of different eco systems so it was fun checking it all out. We ended up spending quite a bit of time there and realized we'd better eat before it was time to pick Liam back up. Oh good, time enough for Taco Time! How about that, two new birds, Taco Time and we didn't even leave Auburn. It was a very nice evening.