In the water to the south of the parking lot, we saw tundra swan, American black duck, and bufflehead. We walked to the beach next and, unfortunately, we saw about a dozen dead snow geese along the beach. We learned that there is a contagious avian flu going around that likely caused the deaths of these geese. There were two snow geese alive on the beach that looked sick. Birds seen along the beach included ring-billed gull, American herring gull, black-bellied plover, dunlin, and sanderling. Along the flat, sandy gravel between the beach and the fence were flocks of snow buntings and horned larks. Back in the parking lot, we saw a great blue heron in the channel, one bald eagle flying by, and flocks of snow geese and Canada geese as it neared sunset. We didn’t see any short-eared owls.
MY PHOTOS: snow goose, snow bunting x 2, American herring gull
