We spent seven hours birding throughout the refuge. Along Beach Road and in Swan Cove Pool, we saw tricolored heron, semipalmated plover, black-bellied plover, Canada goose, and snowy egret, among other birds. Some of the birds around Tom’s Cove Visitor’s Center and the east side of Swan Cove Pool were us glossy ibis, black skimmer, royal tern, barn swallow, little blue heron, dunlin, and Forster’s tern. In Little Tom’s Cove, we found ruddy turnstone, semipalmated sandpiper, least tern, and double-crested cormorant. Further down the beach along Tom’s Cove to where the road loops around, we had good luck near the roped off nesting area. We saw two piping plovers, two American oystercatchers, black-bellied plover, an immature bald eagle, willet, least turn, herring gull, ruddy turnstone, and brown pelican. Next, we took what I call the “Causeway Trail” which goes from the Wildlife Loop parking lot across the causeway exiting the refuge. Along this trail, we saw two great-crested flycatchers, Forster’s tern, an adult bald eagle, black-bellied plover, short-billed dowitcher, one whimbrel in the distance, royal tern, mallard, and little blue heron. Our final stop was Wildlife loop and Snow Goose Pool. Here, we saw a group of at least two dozen white ibises, a smaller group of glossy ibises, osprey, tree swallow, two female mallards—one with four young and one with seven young, two eastern meadowlarks, tricolored heron, and red-winged blackbird. In the woods along the trail to the observation deck, we heard pine warbler, Carolina wren, and common yellowthroat.
MY PHOTOS: glossy ibis, snowy egret, black-bellied plover, tricolored heron, ruddy turnstone, piping plover, mallards, least tern, brown pelican. laughing gull
