The main attraction by the Visitor’s Center was a red-tailed hawk perched high in a tree in the parking lot. We took the Leeds Eco-Trail Boardwalk next but it was quiet. Most of the birds we heard there included white-eyed vireo, gray catbird, and Carolina wren. The Gull Pond Tower Trail was excellent as there must have been at least 100 great egrets and snowy egrets there. Some of the other birds we saw in this area were mute swan, great blue heron, glossy ibis, tree swallow, black skimmer, osprey, mallard, greater yellowlegs, and laughing gull. We followed this area with the Wildlife Drive loop where we identified 26 species. Birds we saw there included red-winged blackbird, white ibis, mute swan, yellow-crowned night heron (imm.), barn swallow, Forster’s tern, common tern, semipalmated sandpiper, black skimmer, osprey, short-billed dowitcher, glossy ibis, ruddy turnstone, killdeer, black-bellied plover, dunlin, great egret, and herring gull.
MY PHOTOS: black skimmer, red-tailed hawk, great egret, Forster’s tern, common tern, white ibis
