A New Year, a Once in a Life Time Experience

Do you make resolutions at the start of a New Year? I do, and instead of weight loss or exercising more, my resolutions tend to revolve around bird watching. This year my resolution was to adopt five eBird Hotspots in Johnson County that seem under birded to me. One of these eBird Hotspots is Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. I noticed that only 47 species of birds have been recorded there and with regular visits I thought I could increase this number.

Red-bellied woodpecker

You might be thinking to yourself: what in the heck is eBird? It’s an online database sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. Bird watchers from every country report their sightings, creating the largest ongoing citizen science project in the world. This link: https://ebird.org/home will take you to the eBird home page if you’re interested.

Back to my resolution: Monday, Jan 6, was overcast with a temperature of 22°. At 9:30 in the morning I started hiking at Turkey Creek. Right away I saw a red-bellied woodpecker and heard a white-breasted nuthatch. Then three bald eagles flew over the property heading north. It was a good start. Further on I heard a noise in a patch of trees that I couldn’t ID right away. Finally, a beautiful pileated woodpecker flew out. Wow.

Northern waterthrush

I was on the trail crossing the stream when a small bird got up and flew out of sight. I thought it might have been a winter wren and I stood quietly to see if it would reappear. After about three minutes it flew into a small bush that overhung the stream 20 feet in front of me. I got my binoculars on it right away and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The bird’s tail was pumping up and down, there was a white stripe over the eye, streaks on the breast, a brown back and an over all yellow appearance…a northern waterthrush, in Iowa, in winter! I got my camera up and in 12 seconds I took 19 photos. None of them are great, but they are diagnostic enough to confirm my ID. The bird flew off and even though I looked I did not see it again. The excitement of finding this bird ruined my birding concentration for the rest of my hike. I’m sure there were birds, but I was so excited to have seen the northern waterthrush that any other birds I encountered mostly escaped my attention.

To my knowledge a northern waterthrush has never been seen in Iowa in winter. They are a migratory warbler, seen in the spring as they head north, and then again in the fall, when they head south. I’ve reported my finding to the Iowa Ornithologist’ Unions Record committee.

I entered by checklist into eBird and you can see it by following this link: https://ebird.org/checklist/S63095078.

My visit on Monday added three new bird species to the Turkey Creek hotspot, bringing the species total up to 50. The new birds are: belted kingfisher, red-headed woodpecker, and northern waterthrush.

I can’t wait to see what new birds will appear on my next visit to this beautiful property!