We went on a birding field trip with the Sussex Bird Club. There were 23 of us and we split up into three groups. We went to Fowler Beach which is part of Prime Hook NWR. Everyone was required to wear a mask and there was plenty of room out there for social distancing. The highlight of the day for us was watching short-eared owls patrol the marsh at the end of the day. While common here in the wintertime, this was the first time we saw one. These owls attract quite a crowd when the weather is nice. Besides the bird club members, cars lined the road with photographers and their bazooka cameras on tripods, and others like me with their smaller, hand-held cameras with zoom lenses. It was a sight to behold. Several northern harriers were in the marsh as well. Coming into the park, we saw a large group of snow geese in a field and a Cooper’s hawk in a tree over the road. We walked along the beach and saw several Savannah sparrows, “Ipswich” sparrows, and horned larks. The tide was low and in the water we saw a red-breasted mergnaser, dunlins, sanderlings, one ruddy turnstone, and herring and great black-backed gulls. To the south in the water we saw a large raft of snow geese.
MY PHOTOS: short-eared owl, northern harrier x 2, short-eared owl, short-eared owl and northern harrier
