Bombay Hook 8/25--American Golden Plover

American Golden Plover

After spending Saturday at various Prime Hook locations as well as the DuPont Nature Center and Little Creek, we returned to Bombay Hook today and found a few more goodies.

Shari impressed me mightily today picking out these 2 American Golden Plovers, birds that can difficult to identify, but she made her case pretty persuasively, her main points focusing on the facial pattern, the white supercilium, and the darkish cap. These plovers are in the middle of their molt, but others saw them, so we're confident in the i.d. They are not an especially rare bird at Bombay Hook and this is the time of the year they start migrating along the east coast.

We found one Hudsonian Godwit in the Shearness Pool and were pretty happy with seeing that one, but later, on our 2nd trip to the Raymond Pool, someone pointed out not only another Hudsonian but a Marbled Godwit as well, standing practically next to each other, the Marbled a giant compared to the Hudsonian and the Hudsonian itself looming over the dowitchers.

The one rarity we found this weekend is a "time" rarity--a Tundra Swan in the Raymond Pool. Speculation is that this bird is (or was) injured and thus unable to migrate. It did spend the time we watched it waddling around in shallow water instead of swimming, but that could just because the water in the pools is pretty low to accommodate the shorebirds--it isn't wise to anthropomorphize.

Is this a Marsh Wren?
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Today's highlights included a couple of male Blue Grosbeaks, a trio of Bobolinks in winter plumage--still a startling bird, like a large golden sparrow--at least one Marsh Wren and another bird that acted like a Marsh Wren but sure didn't look like one, and a Pectoral Sandpiper skulking behind a flock of Glossy Ibises.

Before we went into the NWR proper, we stopped along Smyrna-Leipsic Road to scan the potato fields for plovers, larks, sandpipers. Another birder at the side of the road said he just had 2 Baird's Sandpipers, one of those birds I always say that I have to stand on top of before I'll i.d., but the farmer was actually working his field, and while one of the birds that flew away from the tractor was supposedly the Baird's, there was no way I could say for sure that I'd seen one. Another case of "Ooh, you just missed it!"  We stayed and looked for about 20 minutes, but only came up with Killdeer, Tree Swallows, and a lone Horned Lark.

Besides those birds, we had 53 species at Bombay Hook today:
Canada Goose  40
Tundra Swan  1    Raymond Pool
Mallard  45
Blue-winged Teal  4
Double-crested Cormorant  15
Great Blue Heron  30
Great Egret  70
Snowy Egret  50
Little Blue Heron  4    one in Finis Pool, 3 in pool on road to Allee House
Glossy Ibis  40
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  2
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Clapper Rail  2    Heard
Black-bellied Plover  2
American Golden-Plover  2    Raymond Pool
Semipalmated Plover  10
American Avocet  250
Greater Yellowlegs  35
Lesser Yellowlegs  35
Hudsonian Godwit  2    One in Raymond, one Shearness
Marbled Godwit  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  200
Pectoral Sandpiper  1
Short-billed Dowitcher  100
Long-billed Dowitcher  4
Laughing Gull  4
Herring Gull  5
Caspian Tern  5
Forster's Tern  10
Mourning Dove  15
Black-billed Cuckoo  1    Heard, pool on road to Allee House
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  4
Downy Woodpecker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  4
Eastern Phoebe  1    Visitor's Ctr
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  6
Red-eyed Vireo  1    Heard Finis Pool
Blue Jay  1    Heard, road to Finis Pool
Barn Swallow  5    Wires on Whitehall Neck Road
Tufted Titmouse  1    Heard, Finis Pool
Marsh Wren  2    One @ Raymond, one @ Shearness
Carolina Wren  3    Heard
American Robin  1    Entrance
Gray Catbird  2
Northern Mockingbird  4
European Starling  2    Entrance
Field Sparrow  1    Heard, Visitor's Ctr
Blue Grosbeak  2    One near Visitor's Ctr, one @ Raymond Pool
Bobolink  3    Raymond Pool
Red-winged Blackbird  10
American Goldfinch  15

The other great bird we missed was on Saturday. A King Eider had been reported for a week or so at the DuPont Nature Center on Delaware Bay, but by the time we got down there it hadn't been seen since Friday morning. A King Eider is a rarity anytime; in summer really rare.  We did pick up some favorite birds on Saturday, including Shari's requisite American Oystercatchers at both DuPond and at Fowler Beach. The most perplexing miss of the weekend was that we saw no night-herons--black-crowned, yellow-crowned, any-crowned. No night-herons. For some reason they have been scarce this summer, especially the yellow-crowned variety.

Our complete Delaware weekend list--81 species:

Species               First Sighting

Canada Goose    Bombay Hook NWR

Tundra Swan    Bombay Hook NWR

Wood Duck    Bombay Hook NWR

Gadwall    Bombay Hook NWR

American Black Duck    Bombay Hook NWR

Mallard    Bombay Hook NWR

Blue-winged Teal    Bombay Hook NWR

Double-crested Cormorant    Bombay Hook NWR

Great Blue Heron    Bombay Hook NWR

Great Egret    Bombay Hook NWR

Snowy Egret    Bombay Hook NWR

Little Blue Heron    Bombay Hook NWR

Glossy Ibis    Bombay Hook NWR

Turkey Vulture    Bombay Hook NWR

Osprey    Prime Hook NWR

Bald Eagle    Prime Hook NWR

Red-tailed Hawk    Bombay Hook NWR

Clapper Rail    Bombay Hook NWR

Black-bellied Plover    Bombay Hook NWR

American Golden-Plover    Bombay Hook NWR

Semipalmated Plover    Bombay Hook NWR

Killdeer    Whitehall Crossroads - Leipsic

American Oystercatcher    Fowler Beach Rd

American Avocet    Bombay Hook NWR

Spotted Sandpiper    DuPont Nature Center

Solitary Sandpiper    Prime Hook NWR--Broadkill Marsh

Greater Yellowlegs    Bombay Hook NWR

Lesser Yellowlegs    Bombay Hook NWR

Hudsonian Godwit    Bombay Hook NWR

Marbled Godwit    Bombay Hook NWR

Ruddy Turnstone    Fowler Beach Rd

Sanderling    Fowler Beach Rd

Semipalmated Sandpiper    Bombay Hook NWR

Pectoral Sandpiper    Bombay Hook NWR

Short-billed Dowitcher    Bombay Hook NWR

Long-billed Dowitcher    Bombay Hook NWR

Laughing Gull    Bombay Hook NWR

Ring-billed Gull    Bombay Hook NWR

Herring Gull    Fowler Beach Rd

Great Black-backed Gull    Fowler Beach Rd

Caspian Tern    Bombay Hook NWR

Common Tern    DuPont Nature Center

Forster's Tern    Bombay Hook NWR

Royal Tern    Fowler Beach Rd

Mourning Dove    Bombay Hook NWR

Black-billed Cuckoo    Bombay Hook NWR

Chimney Swift    Dover

Ruby-throated Hummingbird    Bombay Hook NWR

Belted Kingfisher    Prime Hook NWR

Downy Woodpecker    Bombay Hook NWR

Peregrine Falcon    Bombay Hook NWR

Eastern Wood-Pewee    Bombay Hook NWR

Eastern Phoebe    Bombay Hook NWR

Great Crested Flycatcher    Bombay Hook NWR

Eastern Kingbird    Bombay Hook NWR

Red-eyed Vireo    Bombay Hook NWR

Blue Jay    Little Creek Wildlife Area

American Crow    Prime Hook NWR

Horned Lark    Whitehall Crossroads - Leipsic

Purple Martin    Prime Hook NWR

Tree Swallow    Bombay Hook NWR

Barn Swallow    Bombay Hook NWR

Carolina Chickadee    Prime Hook NWR

Tufted Titmouse    Bombay Hook NWR

House Wren    Prime Hook NWR

Marsh Wren    Bombay Hook NWR

Carolina Wren    Bombay Hook NWR

American Robin    Bombay Hook NWR

Gray Catbird    Bombay Hook NWR

Northern Mockingbird    Bombay Hook NWR

European Starling    Bombay Hook NWR

Eastern Towhee    Bombay Hook NWR

Field Sparrow    Bombay Hook NWR

Northern Cardinal    Bombay Hook NWR

Blue Grosbeak    Bombay Hook NWR

Indigo Bunting    Bombay Hook NWR

Bobolink    Bombay Hook NWR

Red-winged Blackbird    Bombay Hook NWR

Brown-headed Cowbird    Prime Hook NWR

American Goldfinch    Bombay Hook NWR

House Sparrow    Bombay Hook NWR