Saturday, February 2, 2008

White Pelicans

Don ducked his head in the door at Wild Birds on Wednesday & informed me. “Forty White Pelicans right at the river bridge! I couldn’t believe it. I turned around and went under the bridge to make sure that what I was looking as I drove off the island. Yes, there they were. When I was getting ready to get back in the car two snipe flew off.” He was smiling. It is always a pleasure to hear bird reports from different folk who a staying on the island. Don is one of the ones I can count on to report these day. Well on Thursday when I was facing a morning of low tide at 9:30 am and I used Don information. My hardy group and I were off to the wharf at the Historic District. As if on clue, the White Pelicans came in a flotilla. My goodness, they were stunning. There were forty-six of them. While looking around here we had American Avocets, American Oystercatcher, Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlins, and Black-bellied Plovers strolling on the other side of the River. We moved down a little to the other side of the wharf. We had Western Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers and a Least Sandpiper along with Little Blue Herons and Snowy Egrets. This was within the first hour. The day continued that way. The Campground Sanctuary had a couple of Pine Warblers and one Yellow-throated Warbler at the feeder.
I am still trying to find sea ducks so we visited a few traditional spots for them but no real luck. We settled on Northern Gannets. They are dominant both in the ocean and in the rivers. All in all I can not complain. We ended the morning with over seventy species.

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