The highlight of the day was watching four roseate spoonbills in Shearness Pool. They were just to the right of the pullover parking lot and perhaps 50 yards into the pool. Other birds seen in this pool included mute swan (2), wood duck, palm warbler, tricolored heron, marsh wren, snowy egret, glossy ibis, and snowy egret. In Bear Swamp Pool, some of the birds I saw were Caspian tern, Forster’s tern, Canada goose, great egret, great blue heron, bald eagle, and semipalmated plover. In Raymond Pool, I estimated approximately 100 American avocets in the far side of the pool. Other birds identified included American goldfinch, double-crested cormorant, clapper rail, black-bellied plover, short-billed dowitcher, turkey vulture, and blue jay. I did not actively bird the visitor’s center area, but when I was packing up to leave I heard a bobwhite across the road and saw an American goldfinch drinking from a puddle in the parking lot.
MY PHOTOS: roseate spoonbill x 3, American avocet, osprey, red-winged blackbird, wood duck, tricolored heron, great egret, marsh wren, palm warbler
