More than 100 kinds of birds visit Douglass Park each spring. Most migrate through the park, stopping for a day or so to fuel up on fish, bugs, worms, or seeds, before continuing northwards. For some birds, Douglass Park is a summer home; their breeding season begins in late spring.

When the ice has melted, and March winds blow from the south, ducks and other waterfowl head north. Sometimes they stop on the Douglass Park lagoons for a day or a week before continuing their journeys.

Bufflehead are diving ducks. They dive deep in search of small catfish and crayfish. The boldly patterned male is in front, and the female in back (March, 2016)

Ring-necked Ducks are also diving ducks. The male (whose faint neck ring is not visible) is on the left, female on the right. (March, 2016)

These ducks are dabblers, not divers, finding food near the water’s surface. The male Northern Shoveler, in front. has a specially adapted bill for sifting small animals from the water. Blue-winged Teal, in the back, eat both small animals and seeds. The male is on the left, the female on the right. (April, 20016)

Wood Ducks have nested in Diuglass Park only once, as far. The brightly colored male helps start the nest, but only the duller female sticks around to care for their ducklings (May, 2016)

Many birds that swim in Douglass Park’s lagoons are not ducks. Coots, for instance, are more closely related to chickens than ducks or geese. Grebes and cormorants are also not related closely to ducks or geese.

American Coot (April, 2016)

Horned Grebe (April, 2016)

Pied-billed Grebe (April, 2016)

Double-crested Cormorant (April, 2016)

Back on land, blackbirds, like grackles and cowbirds, arrive at the park in March or even February. At least a few crows hang out in Douglass Park all winter long, but we sometimes see large flocks of the crows — “murders,” if you will — during early spring.

Common Grackle (March, 2016)

Male Brown-headed Cowbird (March, 2016)

Flock of American Crows (March, 2016)

As the water warms in spring, Black-crowned Night-Herons and other wading birds can be seen hunting fish along the edges of the lagoons. Ring-billed Gulls are uncommon in the park during winter, but sometimes hundreds gather on the soccer fields or edges of the lagoon in spring. Shorebirds, like Killdeer and Wilson’s Snipe seem to prefer a muddy soccer field or puddles in the lawn to the vegetated margins of the lagoons.

Black-crowned Night-Herons catch fish at the edges of the lagoon. (May, 2016)

Ring-billed Gulls catch worms on the soggy soccer field, fish in the lagoons, and clean up any food that humans leave behind. (March, 2016)

Killdeer can be seen on the muddy soccer field or other spots with shallow water. (May, 2016)

Wilson’s Snipe, a type of shorebird sometimes seen on the soccer field mud. (May, 2016)

More than a half dozen kinds of native sparrows stop in Douglass Park to search for food and, perhaps, take a bath in a puddle. Many Song Sparrows pass through the park each spring. A few find enough of what they like a spend the summer, nesting in the sanctuary meadows.

White-throated Sparrows taking a bath (May, 2016)

Fox Sparrow (March, 2016)

Song Sparrow (April, 2016)

With so many spring birds in the park, identifying them all can be a challenge. Some birds have streaked breasts, like sparrows or thrushes, but are completely different sorts of birds. Female Red-winged Blackbirds and Eastern Meadowlarks may look like oversized sparrows, but they are really types of blackbirds. Brown Thrashers are related to mockingbirds and catbirds, not thrushes. And Northern Waterthrushes have both streaky breasts and a name to remind you of thrushes, but they are really a type of warbler.

Female Red-winged Blackbird (March, 2016)

Brown Thrasher (April, 2016)

Eastern Meadowlark (April, 2016)

Northern Waterthrush, a type of warbler (April, 2016)

At least three kinds of woodpeckers may spend the winter in Douglass Park, and two more pass through during spring migration. Northern Flickers are often seen eating ants on the newly greened lawns. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers really do lap up sap from the holes they drill in trees.

Northern Flickers lap up ants as they dig them from soil (April, 2016)

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers punch holes through tree bark and then return later to lap up both the sweet sap and any bugs attracted to it. (April, 2016)

Many warblers spend the winter in Central and South America, then stop by Douglass Park to eat bugs before continuing further north. Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers arrive before the trees are full of leaves and spend more time on the ground. They are easier to see than the warblers that come later and feed high in leafed-out trees.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (April, 2016)

Black-and-White Warbler (May, 2016)

Palm Warbler (April, 2016)

Blue-winged Warbler (April, 2016)

Nashville Warbler (May, 2016)

Besides warblers, there are many other small birds in the leafing out trees. If you go birding in Douglass Park this spring, be sure to look for kinglets, vireos, gnatcatchers, and waxwings.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (April, 2016)

Golden-crowned Kinglet (April, 2016)

Blue-headed Vireo (April, 2016)

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 9May, 2016)

Cedar Waxwing (May, 2016)

Swallows and flycatchers fly in the open, catching insects on the wing. Several kinds of swallows pass through Douglass Park each spring, but Barn Swallows stay to nest and raise their young. Some years three kinds of flycatchers stay the summer. Eastern Kingbirds are the largest summer flycatcher in the park, and they nest here every year. Eastern Phoebes and Willow Flycatchers nest here some summers, but not others.

Barn Swallows catch flying insects on the wing (April, 2016)

Eastern Kingbirds catch flying insects (May, 2016)

More than 40 kinds of birds can be seen at Douglass Park during the summer. Many of them nest and raise their young in the park. To see photos of some of them, go to

BIRDS IN SUMMER