Great Bay Blvd 4/20--Clapper Rail, Willet

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Willet

I barbelled the interesting birds today at Great Bay Blvd. My first stop, in the cedar alley to look at the marsh, produced both of my year birds for the day: a very loud Clapper Rail, and 5 distant Willets. At the end of the road, in the little grove that leads to the beach I heard what I can only describe as a loud belch. Usually, when I heard a weird bird noise, I can't locate the source, but today, I looked up about eye level in one of the trees and there was a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron sitting among the branches. Very odd. I have never seen either night-heron in that grove. Usually, they are by the stands of cedar trees near the bridges. Odder still, because I didn't find one Black-crowned Night-Heron today in any of the usual places, so to find this relatively early yellow-crown was completely unexpected. 

The 4 1/2 miles between the two spots amounted to a very windy "meh." 28 other species, but nothing very entertaining to report.

Brant  40
American Black Duck  12
Mourning Dove  2
Clapper Rail  4     all heard
American Oystercatcher  3
Black-bellied Plover  17
Dunlin  200
Short-billed Dowitcher  1
Greater Yellowlegs  9
Willet  5
Lesser Yellowlegs  2
Herring Gull  100
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Caspian Tern  1
Forster's Tern  25
Common Loon  1
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Egret  3
Snowy Egret  14
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  1     
Osprey  3
Blue Jay  1
Fish Crow  3
Tree Swallow  3
Barn Swallow  3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Song Sparrow  15
Red-winged Blackbird  50
Boat-tailed Grackle  100
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Northern Cardinal  1