We went on a field trip with the Sussex Bird Club. First we went on the deck at the DuPont Nature Center. Thousands of birds were seen on the beach and along the rocks. Most of the shorebirds were ruddy turnstones, dunlins, and semipalmated sandpipers. One or two red knots were seen in the mix but were hard to pick out. Other birds seen from here included osprey, ring-billed gull, double-crested cormorant, barn swallow, song sparrow, willet, spotted sandpiper, snowy egret, black-bellied plover, black-necked stilt, short-billed dowitcher, American oystercatcher, great blue heron, and red-winged blackbird. Our second area we covered was along Lighthouse Road to just past the guardrails. We saw a great blue heron and one clapper rail briefly and heard a second clapper rail. In the larger water area, we saw short-billed dowitcher, semipalmated sandpiper, and least sandpiper. Other birds seen along this route included barn swallow, red-winged blackbird, osprey, boat-tailed grackle, dunlin, seaside sparrow, and ruddy turnstone.
MY PHOTOS: least sandpiper, osprey, ring-billed gull, barn swallow, short-billed dowitcher, great blue heron, song sparrow, double-crested cormorant
