Birding
Where I've been/What I've seen
I will start by saying, It was MUCH easier to sleep the previous night. Today we did not travel very far, but headed to the nearby Prime Hook NWR, around what I believe was a 30 minute drive. We did not spend all that much time at Prime Hook itself, as we had some other spots to head to as well, (Richard Clifton’s Farm and DuPont Nature Center). In the short amount of time we did spend inside the NWR, we found some nice birds, including Black Skimmers, and many, many, Bald Eagles and Ospreys. We unfortunately came at High Tide, so shorebirds were not to be seen (except for Flyovers). We then proceeded to the nearby beach, but before that, a nice Seaside Sparrow popped out of the reeds nearby, to be spotted by the watchful eyes of one of the leaders.
In the patch of forest we found some very nice passerines, including Red-eyed Vireo (two day photo nemesis no more), Acadian Flycatcher (a lifer), heard only Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadee, and as we were exiting, a heard-only Yellow-billed Cuckoo (lifer). Also there was a Red Spotted Purple Butterfly with a partly damaged wing. After this not many more birds were seen, but we did have an uncooperative Question Mark Butterfly. I’m just going to give a little shoutout to George and Joe, who from this little day have gotten me hooked on butterflies and moths. We then left the Clifton farm for our last stop of the day, DuPont Nature Center. Usually in May, for one day, the harbor is filled with Red Knots, their arrival timed perfectly with when the Horseshoe Crab spawning in this exact harbor. We learned all of this from Bill Stewart, who was giving us a brief discussion on the research being done at this spot when George said something along the lines of, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but there is a strange gull flying along the seawall.” Everyone suddenly turned and tried to find it, eventually everyone getting on it, and from Josh Ward’s very good photos from this distance, it was determined to be a LITTLE GULL, another highlight for that day. After Bill finished giving his talk on Red Knots, we scanned the area, where we found a pair of American Oystercatchers and not much else.
We decided to make one more stop, to see if we could find out where the morning flyover White Ibis roosted, although we didn't see them land, they flew over, perhaps returning from Prime or even Bombay Hook. Additionally, this seemed to be a popular Heron spot, as we had Green, Black-crowned Night, many Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and two Tricolored.
We then returned to Virden center and called it a night.
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After the first very successful stop we continued on to Bombay Hook, where we first birded around the visitor center, observing Purple Martins, Indigo Buntings, Brown Thrasher, as well as Eastern Wood-Pewees, the first Gray Catbird of the trip, and a Red-eyed Vireo. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird also frequented the two feeders. We decided to continue on into the refuge itself after two fairly successful stops in a row. The refuge was fairly quiet, however we did have singing White-eyed Vireos and Field Sparrows along the road before making our first stop near Raymond Pool. A few terns, and both species of yellowlegs flew overhead while watching. Bank, Tree, and Barn Swallows glided low over the surface of the water. Black and Turkey Vultures, a Bald Eagle, and some Ospreys circled overhead, looking for a meal. In the pool itself were several Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, and American Avocets. Across from the pool in the marsh, a single Clapper Rail bathed, providing an unusually long look at a rail. Someone also picked out a single Dunlin here. A few Marsh Wrens sang out from over the marsh as well. The next place we stopped at was the Shearness pool. Here the first thing we saw were some exotic Mute Swans in the pool, and many, many shorebirds in the marsh/mudflat. Many ducks also could be found in this pool, being Green-winged Teal, Mallard, American Black, and Wood. Other than that it was almost the same as Raymond Pool. At the end, when we were closer to the shorebirds we had a Black-necked Stilt, a lifer for most of the group. We also had a lesson in looking through shorebirds, and picking out unusual ones (of which there were none). After this the group headed back to the visitor center to eat some lunch before heading to Bear Swamp Pool.
On the way, we made a stop at one of the more productive passerine spots the camp goes to, a random sect of woods off of a road. My camera decided to die on me so no photos. Here we had a Red-headed Woodpecker, Yellow-throated Warbler, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Pine Warbler, Orchard Oriole, Great Crested Flycatcher and a Red-eyed Vireo. Apart from that it was very quiet. That was the end of birding for the day, and we had some free time before dinner (I played some frisbee).
I arrived at Philadelphia Intl. at around noon after a multi-day, three flight excursion from San Diego just to make it by the 2pm cutoff for Avocet. Upon arriving I had to nearly walk the entire airport, as I was on a smaller regional jet, which of course, was in the terminal farthest away from where the ABA van was parked. It was a nice stretch after being kind of cooped up on a plane for the past few hours. After an approximately 15 minute walk there, I arrived at the van, where again I waited for everyone to arrive. It was there I saw my first two birds of the trip, which coincidentally were the same as mine from Camp Colorado, the ever so rare House Sparrow and Rock Pigeon.
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