Brig 6/30--American Avocet, American Golden-Plover, Least Bittern, American White Pelican

American White Pelican with Double-crested Cormorants

All I needed was a little impetus, which was provided by a text last night from Bob, asking me if I wanted to go to Brig this morning. "Why not?" I thought, knowing there were a couple of interesting birds possibly to be seen. Another walk around a cranberry bog fending off deer flies didn't seem so appealing. Why not take a couple of spins around the Wildlife Drive with Bob and fend off greenhead flies instead? 

The whippoorwill woke me at 4:30 this morning, so I was on the road by 6, despite the thunderstorms that were moving through Galloway. The forecast looked like they'd be gone by the time I got there and at 6:45 the weather was cloudy, humid, hazy, and hot, perfect conditions...if you're a greenhead fly. Bob wasn't due to arrive until a little after 8, but as it happened, at the entrance pond I ran into one of the regular Brig birders and we wound up hanging out at the Gull Pond tower together. With a scope and some direction, I was able to pick out the American White Pelican that has been in residence for about a week--that was the bird that I needed a kick to go see--and even though it was about a mile away, white pelicans are so big (they make Brown Pelicans look like doves by comparison) I could easily see it hanging out with flock of egrets. 

But a more elusive bird was in the offing. Behind us, in the marsh, we could hear a soft cooing. If you were in the woods, you might suspect a Black-billed Cuckoo (which I still "need" for the year), but habitat dictates that the "coo-coo-coo, coo-coo-coo" was instead a Least Bittern. This was a particularly vocal specimen, but like most bitterns, it determinedly would not show itself. Bitterns, like nightjars, rails, and owls, are more heard than seen. 

I drove up to the parking lot just as Bob was arriving and we scurried back to the Gull Pond in the hopes of getting him the two birds above. Our informant was still there and with a little bit of scoping I was able to relocate the pelican in one of the pools and then, as if on cue, the bittern started to coo again and just kept going. I doubt I've ever heard one call for so extended a period. 

American Golden-Plover

Bob and I then started our first loop around the drive. We were doing pretty well considering that the end of the June is pretty much dead in terms of shorebirds; until we got to the dogleg about 2/3 of the way around, we only seen Killdeer, both varieties of yellowlegs, and one Black-bellied Plover. Just after we saw our only--Black-crowned Night-Heron fly by, our informant pulled up. We expected him to tell us of all the cool birds we'd missed but aside from a Spotted Sandpiper, we'd all three had similar sightings. However, when he started to search, the birds began to pop up. Bob and I had noted a flock of Ruddy Ducks (it's been a good month for winter ducks), but farther out on a sandbar there were 5 Caspian Terns, but before we could even look at them, he found 3 American Avocets which had been reported on Sunday. Since neither of us has been to Bombay Hook yet this year, those were year birds. Our magic birder drove off only to stop about a thousand feet up the road and summon us over--there, in the mud on the edge of the pool at GM 14 was a slim, long-winged plover with a white supercilium which, with a little rumination was determined to be an American Golden-Plover, extremely rare this early in the year--they're more of September bird, returning from the breeding grounds. American White Pelican, American Avocet, American Golden-Plover--a very patriotic list this 4th of July week.  

We did a second loop without, as usual adding much, though Blue Grosbeak was a good find, and we padded the list with some forest birds like Pine Warbler and Eastern Towhee. In all, we had 75 species for our travels--just to compare, our friend had 95, and looking at his list I see he neglected to include the Green-winged Teal he pointed out to us at the Gull Pond. 

My list: (Bob had a robin that I missed, but I the Willow Flycatcher was at the entrance ponds before he got there)

Canada Goose  100
Mute Swan  10
Wood Duck  4
Blue-winged Teal  2     Gull Pond
Mallard  10
Green-winged Teal  4    
Ruddy Duck  21     Exact Count. 
Mourning Dove  3
Clapper Rail  2
American Avocet  3     
American Oystercatcher  4
Black-bellied Plover  1
American Golden-Plover  1     
Killdeer  2
Short-billed Dowitcher  55
Lesser Yellowlegs  2
Willet  20
Greater Yellowlegs  6
Semipalmated Sandpiper  1
Laughing Gull  75
American Herring Gull  25
Great Black-backed Gull  10
Black Skimmer  10
Least Tern  7
Gull-billed Tern  1     #15
Caspian Tern  10
Forster's Tern  20
Common Tern  1
Double-crested Cormorant  55
Glossy Ibis  14
Least Bittern  1     
Black-crowned Night Heron  1
Snowy Egret  10
Great Egret  50
Great Blue Heron  8
American White Pelican  1     
Turkey Vulture  5
Osprey  12
Bald Eagle  3
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  1
Willow Flycatcher  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Eastern Kingbird  1
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  1
Fish Crow  2
Carolina Chickadee  1
Tree Swallow  4
Purple Martin  20
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2
Barn Swallow  1
Northern House Wren  1
Marsh Wren  6
Carolina Wren  2
Gray Catbird  4
Eastern Bluebird  2
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  15
Chipping Sparrow  1
Field Sparrow  2
Seaside Sparrow  4
Saltmarsh Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  2
Eastern Towhee  1
Orchard Oriole  1
Red-winged Blackbird  75
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
Common Yellowthroat  20
Yellow Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  2
Northern Cardinal  3
Blue Grosbeak  3
Indigo Bunting  1