It was a cloudy, breezy day with occasional drizzle and light rain. These were not the best conditions for birding and photography, but we did well, all things considered. We covered four areas of the refuge. Some of the birds we saw along Beach Road were little blue heron, white ibis, great blue heron, great egret, semipalmated plover, short-billed dowitcher, and tree swallow. Water levels were quite high on both sides of the road. We continued to Tom’s Cove Visitor’s Center where in this area we saw red-winged blackbird, double-crested cormorant, royal tern, clack skimmer, and laughing gull, among others. The best area where we saw birds was on the walk along Little Tom’s Cove. The main beach parking lot was only about ¼ open due to sand on the road and erosion from the winds and waves from recent Hurricane Erin, so we had a longer walk than normal. Birds seen here included royal tern, American oystercatcher, black skimmer, Forster’s tern, piping plover (perhaps 4 or 5), willet, sanderling, common tern, black-bellied plover, semipalmated plover, snowy egret, Caspian tern, and ruddy turnstone. Our last trip of the day was around Wildlife Loop. There was a little water in the middle of the loop where we saw white ibis but other birds were too distant to identify. A few other birds we saw around the loop were pied-billed grebe, northern cardinal, and Forster’s tern.
MY PHOTOS: black skimmer, great blue heron, great egret, little blue heron, piping plover, willet, royal tern
