Melchor Tract Park and the Woodland Hills Preserve ~ October 15, 2025

There were 13 participants when I did the bird walk at Melchor Tract Park back on the 4th. As is often the case with larger groups, not everyone got looks at some of the birds. One birding friend who was on the walk said that a Lincoln's Sparrow would be a "life bird" for him. We had three Lincoln's that morning, but each one only provided the usual fleeting glances, so he was never fortunate enough to see one. I was planning on going back to Melchor this morning, so I called him last night and asked if he wanted to go along and we'd hopefully get him a Lincoln's. He was good with that, so we met up this morning and walked the park. Adam Smith, Linda Freedman, and Jim Figlar were also there. We saw Swamp, Field, Savannah, White-throated, and of course, Song Sparrows, but couldn't find a Lincoln's.

Adam, Linda, and Jim eventually left. During the second circuit around the low end of the park, a Lincoln's popped up. I tried to get him on it, but it darted off to the right before he saw it, so we were back at square one. Along the entrance road to the park, I spotted another one and got him on it, but it was behind a lot of branches, allowing him to view only pieces of that bird.

I asked him if he wanted to make one more run past the spot where I've seen most of the Lincoln's. He was game, so we slowly walked it a third time. We were watching a Yellow-rumped Warbler and some Cedar Waxwings when a bird perched in the open on a branch above the brush. It was a Lincoln's, and this time he was able to get great looks at his "lifer"! Every once in a while, one will actually sit for a while instead of quickly dropping back down into the thick vegetation, and this one happily did just that. We both got nice photos of it.

Lincoln's Sparrow

Other notables seen there included Eastern Bluebirds, a Dark-eyed Junco, and a female Common Yellowthroat.

I left there and drove up to the Woodland Hills Preserve. Its name has been changed to the "Sandra Yerger Community Recreation Area and Nature Preserve", which is a ridiculously long name, so I will stick with Woodland Hills and save myself some precious breaths. It was already 11:30 when I started down the path, so I really wasn't expecting to see too much. On the "Green Trail", I found a nice-sized group of White-throated Sparrows and, wouldn't you know it, a Lincoln's Sparrow was in among them. This time, the photo I got more realistically represents what you often see when you're trying to get a look at one.

A Lincoln's Sparrow behind a bunch of branches.

Down in the low area, I found 2 Eastern Phoebes, Cedar Waxwings, and an Eastern Towhee.

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Towhee

A hawk perched at the top of a distant snag turned out to be a nice adult Red-shouldered Hawk.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Where the little wooden bridge crosses the swampy area, I found another Lincoln's among a few Swamp Sparrows, a couple Field Sparrows, more Cedar Waxwings, and several Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

There were a lot of sparrows flying around in this section, but I could only get looks at a portion of them. On the return side of the loop, I saw this very cooperative Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

When I was back within view of the parking lot, a tiny bird flitted among the goldenrod. When I finally got looks at it, I realized it was a wren, and the dark barring on the rear flanks proclaimed it to be a Winter Wren, my first of the season and a new species for me at this site. I tried to get a photo of it, but my camera wasn't able to focus on it through all of the vegetation.

I ended up with 20 species, which wasn't bad for a late morning, early afternoon walk.

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