Little Gap, Regency Ponds, and Green Pond ~ September 28, 2023

The weather forecast was supposed to be partly sunny in the morning with increasing cloudiness in the afternoon. I decided to go up to Little Gap and see what might be there. As it turned out, the mountain was draped in fog when I got there, so no raptors were moving. The only interesting birds I found were a Magnolia Warbler and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

I left Little Gap earlier than planned, so I headed for the Regency Ponds, getting there at around 11:30. The winds were calm and it was totally overcast, so I decided to walk the woods edge even though it was now almost noon. I'm glad I did. I first came across a small group of warblers that contained a Blackpoll Warbler, a Magnolia Warbler, a Blackburnian Warbler, a Northern Parula, and a male and first-year Black-throated Blue Warbler.

Northern Parula

A very brightly-colored first-year Black-throated Blue Warbler.

A little farther along, I found a few Common Yellowthroats and Indigo Buntings, plus a very late Baltimore Oriole.

A very late Baltimore Oriole.

The last group of birds included about 25 Red-winged Blackbirds, 6 Cedar Waxwings, several Gray Catbirds, 2 Eastern Phoebes, an Eastern Wood-Pewee, a Lincoln's Sparrow, a Scarlet Tanager, and several Northern Flickers.

Lincoln's Sparrow

Scarlet Tanager

Northern Flicker

I scoped the north pond and found a Northern Shoveler, several Wood Ducks, and a Pied-billed Grebe.

Northern Shoveler

Wood Ducks

Pied-billed Grebe

In the south pond, several Green-winged Teal and more Wood Ducks were present.

Green-winged Teal

The swallows zipping over both ponds were comprised of about 75 Tree Swallows, 8 Northern Rough-winged Swallows, and 2 Barn Swallows. I ended up seeing 43 species there before heading over to Green Pond.

At the retention pond along Farmersville Road, across the road from Green Pond, I saw two Green Herons and a Savannah Sparrow that flew up and perched on the fence just long enough to get a very nice photo of it.

Green Heron

Savannah Sparrow

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