Brig | Backyard 4/25--Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Whimbrel, Red Knot, Stilt Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, Gull-billed Tern, Forster's Tern, Barn Swallow, Seaside Sparrow

Forster's Terns

Today, the potentially only nice day until Tuesday, Shari & I went to Brig, where it was too crowded with cars and walkers for me to feel comfortable or to concentrate very well on the flocks of shorebirds in front of us. Fortunately, we ran into Jason, and while keeping the recommended distance between us, he pointed out a few shorebirds I’m certain I would have overlooked—White-rumped Sandpiper, Red Knot, Pectoral Sandpipers, as well as a couple of Gull-billed Terns. To our credit, I found a Stilt Sandpiper & Shari picked out a Semipalmated Sandpiper at the very edge of a large flock of Black-billed Plovers and Dunlins.

I’m sure there were a lot more birds to be found than the 50 we came up with, but I didn’t feel comfortable in the upland area where there seemed to be a continuous stream of strollers with babies and dogs and it was hard to listen for birds when we parked because the drive felt more like a highway than a wildlife drive as cars rushed to the exit after having seen the watery part of the refuge.

Maybe it was so active because it was a Saturday, though in the lockdown, every day seems the same, but perhaps on a weekday some people would still have jobs to do. But even Forsythe is closing down parts of its refuge, like Cedar Bonnet Island and the deCamp trail (as they should) because too many people were crowding onto those narrow paths. But the closures just keep concentrating anyone who wants to be outside into fewer and fewer areas, which make them too crowded, which leads to shutdowns.

Back to power line cuts and obscure WMAs for me.

When we got home we found the most exciting bird of the day—a Ruby-throated Hummingbird finally made an appearance at our feeder. At first glance I thought it was the shadow of another bird on the seed feeder but then I saw the hovering and the glint of ruby in the sun.  It had become so late in the season (or so it seemed to me), that I was just about ready to ask our neighbors if they’d seen any. When we mentioned that we saw one today to our next door neighbor, he said he’d been seeing them since Wednesday. Even though I know we get them every year, until I actually hear the whippoorwill or see the hummingbird or the turkeys, I always wonder if this is the year we won’t have one. It would only be a speck of the unusual in such a crazy year.

50 species

Brant  6

Canada Goose  60    with goslings

Mute Swan  4    Gull Pond

Blue-winged Teal  2

Mallard  2

American Black Duck  4

Green-winged Teal  4

American Coot  1

Black-bellied Plover  175    flocks of 25, 50, 100. Stopped counting after that

Whimbrel  15

Red Knot  1    With black-bellied plovers, salmon breast, much shorter bill than dowitcher

Stilt Sandpiper  1    Yellow legs, curved beak, feeding like an oil derrick

Dunlin  25

White-rumped Sandpiper  1    Smaller than Dunlin with crossed tail tips

Pectoral Sandpiper  12    Exact count

Semipalmated Sandpiper  1    Small sandpiper w black legs, relatively short bill

Short-billed Dowitcher  60

Greater Yellowlegs  25

Willet  30

Lesser Yellowlegs  20

Laughing Gull  2

Ring-billed Gull  10

Herring Gull  100

Great Black-backed Gull  1

Gull-billed Tern  2    Thick bodied terns with heavy all black bills

Forster's Tern  50

Double-crested Cormorant  140

Great Blue Heron  3

Great Egret  20

Snowy Egret  15

Turkey Vulture  1

Osprey  8

White-eyed Vireo  1    Heard

Fish Crow  3

Carolina Chickadee  1    Heard

Tufted Titmouse  3

Purple Martin  10

Tree Swallow  25

Barn Swallow  1

Carolina Wren  1    Heard

American Robin  1

American Goldfinch  1    Heard

Chipping Sparrow  1    Heard

Field Sparrow  1    Heard

Seaside Sparrow  1    Heard

Song Sparrow  2    Heard

Eastern Towhee  3    Heard

Red-winged Blackbird  50

Common Yellowthroat  4    Heard

Northern Cardinal  1    Heard