IdleWild Park Field Trip- 11/19/21

Photo courtesy of Emma Wynn.

On Friday, November 19th, Kath Giel led a birding field trip starting at Idlewild Park and walking upstream along the Truckee River for about a mile. There were 12 enthusiastic birders on the trip, newcomers to Reno as well as long term residents, many who had never been to this delightful birding area. Valerie Andersen compiled an eBird checklist. Below is the summary and highlights of the event:

Idlewild Park is a lovely park along the Truckee River near downtown Reno. It has two small ponds, and in addition to the perennial MALLARDS and CANADA GEESE on these ponds, we saw HOODED MERGANSERS, COMMON MERGANSERS, and a pair of WOOD DUCK. There was a HAIRY WOODPECKER in a tree near one pond.   As we strolled upstream along the Truckee River, we were delighted with a number of DOWNY WOODPECKERS  in the trees We also noted a few FLICKERS, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES, SONG SPARROWS and ROBINS.  A few people spotted a MERLIN on the other side of the river. We also saw a JUVENILE SNOW GOOSE in the river with some CANADA GEESE and then on the way back to our cars we were thrilled with a JUVENILE RED-TAILED HAWK that was fearless and perched just above the ground on a tree stump along the river path (photo above by Emma Wynn). We enjoyed the two hours of birding on a beautiful day, enjoying our birding and making new friends.

See the Ebird Checklist