We covered four areas of the refuge today. In the short time at the Visitor’s Center, we identified house sparrow, Canada goose, turkey vulture, and red-bellied woodpecker. We stopped at Raymond Pool next. Some of the birds seen here included American avocet, tundra swan, green-winged teal, northern pintail, northern shoveler, bufflehead, gadwall, and greater yellowlegs. While at Shearness Pool, we saw several large flocks of snow geese, perhaps one thousand or so, headed toward the bay. Birds we identified in Shearness Pool included American black duck, pied-billed grebe, mallard, mute swan, northern pintail, great egret, green-winged teal, American coot, and northern shoveler. Our last stop was Bear Swamp Pool where we saw more species (18) than the previous two pools (13 each). Some of the birds we identified were Canada goose, tundra swan, northern harrier, green-winged teal, hooded merganser, Carolina wren, red-winged blackbird, northern cardinal, American robin, herring gull, ring-billed gull, great egret, and northern pintail.
MY PHOTOS: northern pintail, bufflehead, snow geese, great blue heron, northern harrier
