We had a nice, if hot, walk Sunday morning. Highlights included a brief look
at a least bittern, at least two marsh wrens, and five or so yellow warblers.
The group was about 10 or so of the usual suspects. I only mistook a flying
cicada for a hummer once. We had one distant mystery duck that I first
mistook for a shoveler, because of the apparently large bill. But it wasn't
large enough. As it was about the same size as some nearby mallards, and
noticeably darker, we concluded that it was a black duck. Something didn't
seem right. Upon reflection, it was that it had a uniformly dark bill (which
is probably what made me think shoveler). An immature black duck?
Jason Waanders and I checked out the Stone Bridge first at about 7:15 a.m.
Those numbers come first. Most are just approximations from memory (I lost
my sweatsoaked checklist).
Ben Jesup
Stone Bridge
great egret - 12
killdeer - 30
dowitcher sp. - 2 (breeding plumage)
lesser yellowlegs - 75
greater yellowlegs - 10
spotted -1 (breeding plumage)
pectoral - 4
least - 75
semipalm sandpiper - 2
ring-billed gull - many
laughing gull - 10+
GBB gull - 2
Forster's tern - 100
Caspian tern - 10
Haul Rd. and picnic area
DC cormorant - 50
great blue heron - 30
great egret - 40
least bittern - 1 (across gut from SE corner of boardwalk)
Canada goose - yes
mallard - yes
black duck - 1? (see above)
osprey - 3
coot - 1
ring-billed gull - hundreds
laughing gull - yes
GBB gull - 10+
Forster's tern - yes
rock dove - 2
mourning dove - 4
kingfisher - 1
downy woodpecker - 2
kingbird - 3
pewee - 1
barn swallow - yes
tree swallow - 1
chickadee - yes
titmouse - yes
marsh wren - at least 2
Carolina wren - 5
house wren - 1 reported
gnatcatcher - 8
robin - 1
catbird - 4
blue jay - 1
American crow - 6
yellow warbler - 5
common yellowthroat - 3
cardinal - 5
goldfinch - 10
house finch - 3
song sparrow - 5
grackle - 2
red-winged BB - yes (only 1 singing)
starling - 1
Baltimore oriole - 5
passer sp. - 3
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