Mostly cloudy – occasional showers. Temperatures were in the upper 50s to around 60F.
This morning I was motivated to get out after receiving a message about Sanderlings at Sandy Beach. I spent a good chunk of the morning taking pictures of them (#156) and other birds as the tide rose.
From Sandy Beach I headed out to Starrigavan. I didn’t work too hard to figure out what was there, but did notice there were a fair number of dabbling ducks on the bay side. I also spent some time chatting with DK about airport sightings he had this morning. These included Peregrine Falcon, a flight of geese, quite a few snipe, and fewer sparrows.
He also told me about his experience early yesterday morning. He was out well before light, and heard many birds calling and flying by the lights. When he pulled out a bright light to get a better look, the birds started flying at him.
Rowan spotted a snipe in the yard.
I got a message from LP about a Blackpoll Warbler in the vicinity of SEARHC/UAS. That’s one I still haven’t seen, so I spent a couple hours looking around.
There was a lone Western Sandpiper on the ramp. I also saw warblers visiting the trees and shrubs there.
During my time I mostly saw Yellow Warblers and a few Orange-crowned Warblers. There were also quite a few Fox Sparrows, some Golden-crowned Sparrows, and also a few Savannah Sparrows.
Light was fading when I got a text from DK about a Caspian Tern at Totem Park. I was able to make it down there before it left and got a couple documentary photos (#157).
As I was heading out the park, I noticed a pink edging to some of the clouds in the west. Over the next few minutes, a rather spectacular sunset unexpectedly developed. I wasn’t really at a place where I could best photograph it, but that’s often the case.
The Gray Catbird apparently moved to KJ’s place overnight and was seen there a couple times today.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
