The refuge was very busy as we identified 65 species throughout the day. There were so many eagles, most of them immature, that we stopped counting them after seeing more than ten in each area. Highlights from the Visitor’s Center included purple martin, American goldfinch, turkey vulture, and house sparrow. Along the Raymond Pool Trail, some of the birds we identified were eastern towhee, yellow warbler, white-eyed vireo, American redstart (pair), and eastern wood-peewee. Birds seen from the Raymond Pool Tower included black-necked stilt, blue grosbeak, short-billed dowitcher, dunlin, American avocet, black-bellied plover, brown thrasher, red-winged blackbird, red-eyed vireo, and willet. On our second trip around the Raymond Pool road, we saw several indigo buntings along the road on the left before the road bends to the left. We identified 23 species in Raymond Pool including bald eagle (10+), mute swan, semipalmated plover, marsh wren, green-winged teal, northern flicker, black-necked stilt, American goldfinch, and great egret. We identified 33 species in Shearness pool. Some of these birds were tree swallow, bald eagle (10+), double-crested cormorant, Caspian tern, ovenbird, snow goose (one), greater yellowlegs, Baltimore oriole, and black skimmer (3). Bear Swamp Trail was more productive than normal and included black-bellied plover, Canada goose, semipalmated plover, dunlin, blue jay, and pileated woodpecker. We identified 23 species in Bear Swamp Pool including northern mockingbird, eastern kingbird, black-bellied plover, great-crested flycatcher, mute swan, black skimmer (5), and semipalmated sandpiper. Along the Boardwalk Trail, we identified gray catbird, bald eagle (imm.), snowy egret, barn swallow, white-eyed vireo, and red-winged blackbird, among others.
MY PHOTOS: bald eagle, red-winged blackbird, red-eyed vireo, pied-billed grebe, snowy egret, eastern kingbird, American goldfinch, blue grosbeak
