Great Bay Blvd 4/27--Caspian Tern, Seaside Sparrow

Caspian Terns (digiscope)

Until a few years ago, I started my list on Great Bay Blvd at the bulwark, just over the first bridge. But then a couple of friends showed me a place in the alley of cedars that line the road before the bridge where you can get a look at Tuckerton Cove--and now I always stop there first because it is a spot where you'll probably find birds that aren't going to appear farther south. Today, it was Green-winged Teals, late Northern Shovelers, and my FOY Caspian Terns.  

When I stopped at the bulwark,
I immediately heard the buzzing of my first Seaside Sparrows. Despite looking for them up and down the road for the 4 plus hours I was there, I couldn't actually put eyes on them, but they're on the list. After that, it was all birds I would expect to find, except for an out of place Field Sparrow at the ever-beeping wind monitoring station (no fields for miles) and a Merlin chasing a Boat-tailed Grackle, just for fun, I imagine.  

36 species
Brant  190
Canada Goose  2
Northern Shoveler  2     
Mallard  14
Green-winged Teal  75     
Red-breasted Merganser  3
Mourning Dove  5
Clapper Rail  4
Black-bellied Plover  40
Willet  22
Greater Yellowlegs  19
Dunlin  300
Laughing Gull  5
Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  1
Caspian Tern  3     
Forster's Tern  75
Double-crested Cormorant  10
Snowy Egret  8
Great Egret  30
Osprey  11
Belted Kingfisher  1
Merlin  1
Tree Swallow  2
Barn Swallow  1
Carolina Wren  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Robin  1
Field Sparrow  1     
White-throated Sparrow  1
Seaside Sparrow  3
Song Sparrow  6
Red-winged Blackbird  25
Boat-tailed Grackle  75
Common Yellowthroat  4
Northern Cardinal  1