I went on a field trip with the Sussex Bird Club. Before we started, I checked around the visitor’s center and some of the birds I identified there were purple martin, orchard oriole, northern mockingbird, and fish crow. Our group of 13 birders started along the Dike Trail. Water levels were high and that helped us get 31 species there. Some of the birds we saw included great blue heron, great egret, black vulture, mallard, Forster’s tern, least tern, pectoral sandpiper, black-necked stilt (6), short-billed dowitcher, summer tanager, least sandpiper, western sandpiper, semipalmated sandpiper, Caspian tern, and osprey. After we finished this trail, the group dispersed elsewhere while I stayed back and walked around the Boardwalk Trail by myself. I obtained 24 species along this trail including great-crested flycatcher, blue-gray gnatcatcher, indigo bunting, blue grosbeak, white-eyed vireo, turkey vulture, common yellowthroat, brown thrasher, chipping sparrow, and Carolina chickadee.
MY PHOTOS: great blue heron, purple martin, mallard, great egret, black vulture, great-crested flycatcher
