Date: 6/18/25 7:01 pm From: Clayton Will <willcfish...> Subject: [ia-bird] Quality birds at Bob Shetler below Saylorville Dam, Polk County today.
It was a great middle of the day after I had the oil changed on the SUV this morning. All in the same spot below Saylorville Dam, Polk County. I parked in the South pond pull off North of the boat ramp. Prothonotary Warbler Yellow-throated Vireo at least 6 Yellow-billed Cuckoos calling all around and across the river. 2 seen and possibly 3 Pileated Woodpeckers. One came right in and I took video of it feeding on insects about 20 yards away. Interesting to see it using its tongue to lick insects off the tree branch. Then it flew a short distance into a Mulberry and started eating fruit. I'd not seen that before. A juvenile Northern Parula I thought was going to come in the car with me ended up sitting on my mirror after using the call for 10 seconds. I had the same thing happen in the same spot (trailhead parking lot) 6-7 years ago. All in all a great day with many other (38) birds at that location. Earlier I had stopped by the Great Blue Heron rookery and videod an adult regurgitating fish to feed the two young in her nest. There are over 60 nests in this rookery that is on Camp Dodge, federal land but can be viewed from North 86th st.. Here's a link to my ebird checklist if you'd like to see the videos. https://ebird.org/checklist/S251786951
