Over 200 different species of birds can be seen on Lake Trail during the year. Here are a few that can be seen in the Fall (August through November).
Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, can be seen year-round. It stands or walks slowly searching for fish, small mammals, and other prey. Flight call is a very deep, hours, trumpeting fraahnk or braak. It is 46″ in length, a wingspan of 72″ and weighs 84.8 oz.
Mallards, male and female, Anas platyrhynchos, are the most frquently seen duck at CBEC. It is seen year-round. It nests on the ground and feeds mainly on seeds taken from the water. The female voice is a familiar, loud, quacking calls that sometimes sounds like laughter. The male is much quieter and gives a short whistle piu. It is 23″ in length, a wingspan of 35″ and weighs 38.4 oz.
Canada Goose, Branta canadensis, is very common and widspread at CBEC. They are primarily herbivores, although they sometimes eat small insects and fish. their main diet includes green vegetation and grains. Its call is a familiar loud, resonant and musical honk h-ronk and h-lenk. It is 36″ in length, a wingspan of 52″ and weighs 107.2 oz.
Brown Thrasher, Toxostoma rufum, usually hides in deep brush and can be seen year-round. They feed on insects, mainly beetles and other arthropods, fruits and nuts. Its song is rich, musical phrases, each repeated two or three times with a pauses between each, whichoo-which. It is 11.5″ in length, a wingspan of 13″ and weighs 2.4 oz.
Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, can be seen year-round at CBEC. It feeds mainly on small mammals. Its voice is a distant-sounding, rasping, scraping scream, cheeeeeeeewv; also a shorter scream may be repeated in a series. It is 19″ in length, a wingspan of 49″ and weighs 38.4 oz.