Whitesbog 8/14--Broad-winged Hawk

Middle Bog looking west

I have an acute case of Whitesbog FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), so once again, this morning found me driving in on Rome Pond Road around 7 o'clock. Late, I learned when I met Jim walking down the road, who'd been there already for a couple hours and had a a few owls and nighthawks already on his list. 

Whitesbog, with the bogs drawn down, does attract the rarities, but, the Ruff earlier this month being the exception, they don't stay very long. This morning was a good example. After parking at the usual spot by the middle bog, I took a walk around it, just with my binoculars. I wanted to make a quick survey then walk around Union Pond. There were lots of the usual shorebirds in the mud, but nothing that looked unusual until,  on the north side, I spotted a Black-bellied Plover. Not a big deal if you're at the shore, but in Burlco, a rarity. It was nice-looking adult and I quickly saw it wasn't a Golden-Plover by its white cap. I should have taken a distant picture from where I stood, but instead I made the mistake of trying to get a better angle on the bird. The plover, naturally, flew a few yards from one sandbar to another closer to the south side. I texted Jim, who texted back that it probably wouldn't be there by the time he got there. And he was right! The plover had done a touch and go, because I couldn't find it again, though I walked the perimeter of the bog. 

By the time Jim got there the bird was either long gone or hiding very well. We then made our way around Union Pond, the landing strip and into the village, then out along the entrance road onto a path that leads to a bog west of the village that very few people seem to know about. It was there that Jim heard a hawk call. I, with my printing press battered ears, didn't hear it at first but eventually did hear one call--it sounded like a pissed-off pewee. Jim identified it as Broad-winged Hawk and looking up saw one. Amazingly I found it right away, then another, and yet another. Year bird. This is the time of year they start to move and in the fall they'll be the most counted hawk at a lot of the hawk watches around the state. 

By the time I was finished for the day, after scoping the middle bog for a while, I'd logged 4 1/2 miles and 50 species (thanks to Jim reminding me of a couple I'd left off the list)

And I'll probably do it again tomorrow, even though weekends at Whitesbog can be difficult, especially if some guy decides to train his retriever in the bogs.

50 species

Canada Goose  2    Lower Bog

Wood Duck  1    Ditch Meadow

Mallard  21

Mourning Dove  2

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2

Black-bellied Plover  1    Adult. 

Semipalmated Plover  20

Killdeer  3

Least Sandpiper  135    Accurate count

Pectoral Sandpiper  3

Semipalmated Sandpiper  5

Spotted Sandpiper  6

Solitary Sandpiper  4

Greater Yellowlegs  1

Lesser Yellowlegs  5

Great Blue Heron  2

Great Egret  1

Black Vulture  1    White wing tips short tail

Turkey Vulture  5

Broad-winged Hawk  3    Soaring over bog west of village. 

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2

Downy Woodpecker  1

Eastern Wood-Pewee  3

Eastern Phoebe  5

Eastern Kingbird  3

White-eyed Vireo  4

Red-eyed Vireo  2

Blue Jay  1    Heard

American Crow  1    Heard

Carolina Chickadee  2

Tufted Titmouse  4

Purple Martin  6

Tree Swallow  10

Barn Swallow  1

White-breasted Nuthatch  4    Heard

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1

Carolina Wren  4

Gray Catbird  35

Brown Thrasher  1    Triangle field

American Robin  5

House Finch  1

American Goldfinch  2

Chipping Sparrow  5

Song Sparrow  2

Eastern Towhee  10

Black-and-white Warbler  3    Landing strip

Common Yellowthroat  10

Pine Warbler  8

Northern Cardinal  2