Birding at Gonzaga Campus

Finally, after being stuck at home for a week, I was able to get out of the house and do some birding. Last week when I attempted to get some badly needed birding in, I got car sick, really car sick, and ended up with a two day migraine and no desire to ever get back in a car. So this Bird Lady was more than ready to get some outdoors in!

After taking myself out to lunch, I drove to Gonzaga University (#1 team in NCAA college basketball right now, GO BULLDOGS!), parked my car, and started walking across campus until I came upon this fellow...

Spike the Bulldog's mascot

As I continued walking, I could hear the birds singing, and looked up into a huge tree to see what types of birdies were making the sweet sounds. I recognized the American Robins of course, and a couple of European Starlings. There were also some small grayish birds that I snapped a couple of photos of in hopes to identify them once I downloaded the pictures to the computer, and got a better look. I do believe the little birds were American Goldfinches in winter plumage. After the big tree with birds, I made my way to a large pond at the back of the campus. Imagine my delight when I saw a gazebo with bird feeders on both sides! I made a b-line for the gazebo and right away noticed several little birds enjoying the feeders. There was a pair of House Finches sharing one feeder with a Black-capped Chickadee.

Male House Finch

House Finch & Black-capped Chickadee

Under the other feeder, there were several Dark-eyed Juncos dining and a male House Sparrow enjoyed the fallen seed too.

Male House Sparrow

I spent quite some time enjoying the feeder activity, and then continued my stroll along the pond's edge. A Northern Flicker and Red-breasted Nuthatch caught my eye, but didn't cooperate for pictures. A couple of pairs of Mallard ducks swam along the shore of the pond and there was a neat water feature in the middle.

Water Feature in the middle of the pond

Dozens of American Wigeon were swimming in the large pond, and making their funny little sounds.

Beautiful pond with all the American Wigeon in the distance

An American Robin hid in the bushes as I walked by, but couldn't hide from my camera lens as I peaked over the embankment.

American Robin in the bush

As I made my way back to my car, a group of Canada Geese flew into the soccer field and set-up for a game of soccer.

Soccer Geese (Canadian team)

Beautiful day at Gonzaga!

Be sure to check out my 2013 lists.  I'm up to 38 birds species for the year so far.

Come on SPRING!