40 enthusiastic participants showed up for the outing. There were only
18 individual shorebirds at Rock Point, the lowest number for this trip
over the years. The good news was that there were two juvenile Baird's
Sandpipers at which we all had excellent looks in great light
conditions. There were also almost no shoreline or shorebirds at the
Mosaic Esterhazy lagoons which was fortunate because this year we did
not have permission to walk into the property.
We spent a lot of time on Feeder Canal Road. Here we had at least 5
Green Herons, 20 Great Egrets, Solitary Sandpiper ( heard) and a good
number of yellowlegs. Many of the participants seemed as interested in
the turtles as the birds. We had a northern map turtle, a Blanding's
turtle, painted turtles and a snapping turtle. We searched all the sod
farms for for plover. It was only at our last stop on Poth Road that we
had a group of about 60 Black-bellied Plovers fly in as we got there at
about 12:30. No Buff-breasted Sandpipers or American Golden Plovers in
the fields. Perhaps just a few week early for their return.
At Rock Point: 7 shorebird species
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Baird's Sandpiper 2
Lesser yellowlegs 2
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Least Sandpiper 5
Semipalmated Plover 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 2
Killdeer 1
Also viewed
Long-tailed Duck (1) sitting on the lake and a Black Tern (1) flying
over the lake.
Red-eyed Vireo
American Goldfinch
Yellow Warbler
Baltimore Oriole
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Song Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Common Tern
Gray Catbird
Northern Cardinal
Red-tailed Hawk
Fowler's Toad observed on the beach by some.
At the Mozaic Esterhazy Lagoons:
Green Heron and Wilson's Snipe were heard.
Great Blue Heron (3)
Wood Duck (1) and Great Egret (1)
Caspian Tern (2)
Futher down the road at the canal and small ponds
Great Blue Heron (3)
Green Heron (5)
Great Egret (20)
Solitary Sandpiper (1)
Greater Yellowlegs (3)
Lesser Yellowlegs (2)
Swamp Sparrow (1)
Marsh Wren (1)
Wood Duck (5)
Blue-winged Teal (3)
Swallow Species observed during the outing:
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Purple Martin
Additional species observed in this area:
Great-crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Belted Kingfisher
Common Grackle
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
4 turtle species observed in the ponds and canal on Feeder Canal Road.
Painted Turtle
Map Turtle
Blanding's Turtle
Snapping Turtle
On the way to Poth Road, the group observed Horned Larks.
At Poth Road,
Black-bellied Plover (60)
Killdeer (30)
American Kestrel (2)
Cooper's Hawk (1)
American Crow (14)
John Black and Dan Salisbury with the help of Luc Fazio, Marcie Jacklin
and Kevin McLaughlin (Species list compiled by Bob Highcock)
--
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