We covered a lot of ground on the refuge today. Birds along Beach Road included cattle egrets on the ponies, little blue heron, tricolored heron, belted kingfisher, and white ibis. In the Little Tom’s Cove and Swan Cove areas, some of the birds we saw were willet, snowy egret, brown pelican, and black-bellied plover. By the Tom’s Cove visitor center and Swan Cove, we saw an immature bald eagle, greater yellowlegs, common tern, semipalmated plover, and royal tern. In Tom’s Cove, the highlight was 27 American oystercatchers. Other birds seen here included ruddy turnstone, four brown pelicans, great blue heron, ring-billed gull, and herring gull. Next, we walked the entire Woodland Trail. Along this trail, we identified Carolina wren, northern mockingbird, American Robin, downy woodpecker, bald eagle, and double-crested cormorant (the only bird we saw from the Bivalve Trail). We went to Wildlife Loop next and observed Canada goose, mallard, great-crested flycatcher, semipalmated sandpiper, great blue heron, little blue heron, and turkey vulture. Our last stop today was the trail from the Wildlife Loop parking lot through the woods to the causeway. Some of the birds we identified along this trail included Forster’s tern, northern cardinal, Carolina chickadee, and rock pigeon.
MY PHOTOS: tricolored heron, little blue heron, belted kingfisher, great egret, American oystercatcher x 2, snowy egret, northern mockingbird, great blue heron
