Great Bay Blvd 4/20--Seaside Sparrow

American Oystercatchers at low tide

Low tide and the morning finally coincided down on Great Bay Blvd, so I hied myself down there to see what was on the mud flats.

The new bird for the year I heard at the new bulkhead at the north end of the road--two Seaside Sparrows singing their little buzzy song. They were so loud I felt like I was right on top of them, but I could find them; I heard another down at the inlet--still couldn't find it. Aggravating. I tried to make an audio recording of them but it was marred by the wind, which didn't seem like much but sounded like a hurricane on the recording.

The only shorebirds were Willets (new for the county), a dozen yellowlegs scattered about, and the easy to photograph oystercatchers at the inlet. Both egrets, one Tricolored Heron, and a few Glossy Ibis at Holly Lake. And that was really about it. Back to looking for warblers tomorrow.

28 species
Brant 90
Canada Goose 2
American Black Duck 1
Red-breasted Merganser 2 boat launch north of 2nd wooden bridge
Common Loon 1
Double-crested Cormorant 43
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 30
Snowy Egret 22
Tricolored Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 10 scattered.
American Oystercatcher 2 inlet beach
Greater Yellowlegs 12
Willet 4
Laughing Gull 2
Herring Gull 40
Great Black-backed Gull 15
Forster's Tern 15
Fish Crow 3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 4
Tree Swallow 6 Nesting in pier hole at boat launch and in traffic light cross beam
Barn Swallow 2
European Starling 1
Seaside Sparrow 3 Heard
Song Sparrow 4
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Boat-tailed Grackle 35