Leaders: Kathy Horn, Roger Horn
Temp: 75° F
Winds: SE 7 mph
Weather Conditions: cloudy
The calls of Forster, Common and Least Terns are frequent and familiar sounds throughout the summer at the State Park. But today, as we approached the lookout on Al’s Pond, we heard a different tern. Wheeling and calling over the pond were two Gull-billed Terns. With their gull-like bills and smooth gray backs, they are an uncommon sight in the park. Monotypic in their genus, Gelochelidon, Gull-billed are less dependent on fish in their diet, eating insects, crabs, and other terrestrial and aquatic prey.
Green Herons were also putting on a show, both in-flight and as they foraged on pond edges. We also had multiple Solitary Sandpipers on our walk, more evidence of the accelerating migration.
56 species
| Species | Count |
| Mute Swan | 94 |
| Gadwall | 6 |
| Mallard | 80 |
| American Black Duck | 3 |
| Wild Turkey | 4 |
| Mourning Dove | 5 |
| Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 5 |
| American Oystercatcher | 2 |
| Semipalmated Plover | 1 |
| Killdeer | 2 |
| Sanderling | 12 |
| Least Sandpiper | 7 |
| Semipalmated Sandpiper | 3 |
| Solitary Sandpiper | 4 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 3 |
| Laughing Gull | 15 |
| Herring Gull (American) | 2 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 22 |
| Least Tern | 52 |
| Gull-billed Tern | 2 |
| Common Tern | 4 |
| Forster’s Tern | 11 |
| Royal Tern | 2 |
| Black Skimmer | 1 |
| Brown Pelican (Atlantic) | 3 |
| Great Egret | 9 |
| Snowy Egret | 2 |
| Green Heron | 3 |
| Glossy Ibis | 1 |
| Black Vulture | 2 |
| Osprey (carolinensis) | 2 |
| Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) | 1 |
| Great Crested Flycatcher | 1 |
| White-eyed Vireo | 1 |
| American Crow | 1 |
| Carolina Chickadee | 2 |
| Tufted Titmouse | 2 |
| Purple Martin | 20 |
| Tree Swallow | 6 |
| Barn Swallow (American) | 1 |
| Carolina Wren (Northern) | 7 |
| Gray Catbird | 2 |
| Brown Thrasher | 1 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 2 |
| American Robin | 2 |
| Cedar Waxwing | 2 |
| House Finch | 7 |
| American Goldfinch | 4 |
| Field Sparrow | 5 |
| Orchard Oriole | 2 |
| Red-winged Blackbird (Red-winged) | 9 |
| Common Yellowthroat (trichas Group) | 5 |
| Northern Cardinal | 8 |
| Blue Grosbeak | 2 |
| Indigo Bunting | 4 |
