We birded in three areas of the refuge. We started out at the Visitor’s Center and walked along the entrance road to Foord’s Landing Road. Some of the birds that were identified along this segment of our walk were snow geese (flock heading north), northern cardinal, boat-tailed grackle, Canada goose, northern harrier, and Carolina wren. Next, we walked along Foord’s Landing Road to the boat launch. The highlight of the day was seeing an eastern screech-owl (red phase). It was sleeping in a tree knot past the picnic pavilion and before the road turnaround. The tree was on the same side of the road as the pavilion about 30 feet into the woods and the owl was about 15 feet off the ground. Other birds seen along the trail included Savannah sparrow, white-throated sparrow, red-bellied woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, eastern towhee, swamp sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler, bald eagle, red-winged blackbird, turkey vulture, and Carolina chickadee. We went back to the parking lot along Foord’s Landing Road to the Blue Goose Trail and through the field. Our last area was Dike Trail. Some of the birds we saw along this trail were great blue heron, northern pintail, bald eagle (3 imm.), black vulture, mallard, herring gull, ring-billed gull, northern harrier, black vulture, greater yellowlegs, and yellow-rumped warbler.
MY PHOTOS: eastern screech-owl, yellow-rumped warbler, black vulture, Savannah sparrow, white-throated sparrow, great blue heron, bald eagle, northern pintail
