Leaders: Kathy Horn, Roger Horn, Bernie Hodgdon
Temp: 65° F
Winds: NE 5 mph
Weather Conditions: cloudy
What a difference a day makes, especially in late July! The north winds overnight cooled us down and cleared the air, and also brought in some birds. We watched an American Redstart chasing a Yellow Warbler, while two Blue-gray Gnatcatchers chased each other near the back bridge on the Blue trail. Tree Swallow numbers are building as begin their staging period here. Least Tern chicks in their enclosures on the beach are in various stages of development now, with some tiny fuzzy ones still visible but also many that are already a little bigger and more adult–like but showing some barring and a dark carpal bar. A really strange site was a tailless Orchard Oriole that looked as if it had narrowly escaped with its life!
57 species
| Species | Count |
| Canada Goose | 5 |
| Mute Swan | 98 |
| Mallard | 108 |
| Mallard x American Black Duck (hybrid) | 2 |
| Mourning Dove | 6 |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird | 4 |
| American Oystercatcher | 2 |
| Killdeer | 2 |
| Least Sandpiper | 6 |
| Semipalmated Sandpiper | 12 |
| Short-billed Dowitcher | 3 |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 1 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 2 |
| Laughing Gull | 18 |
| Herring Gull (American) | 3 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 1 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 4 |
| Least Tern | 63 |
| Common Tern | 4 |
| Forster’s Tern | 11 |
| Royal Tern | 1 |
| Black Skimmer | 4 |
| Double-crested Cormorant | 2 |
| Great Egret | 2 |
| Green Heron | 2 |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron | 1 |
| Glossy Ibis | 11 |
| Turkey Vulture | 1 |
| Osprey (carolinensis) | 5 |
| Belted Kingfisher | 1 |
| Downy Woodpecker (Eastern) | 1 |
| Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) | 1 |
| Empidonax sp. | 1 |
| Great Crested Flycatcher | 1 |
| White-eyed Vireo | 2 |
| Blue Jay | 1 |
| American Crow | 4 |
| Fish Crow | 3 |
| Carolina Chickadee | 2 |
| Purple Martin | 50 |
| Tree Swallow | 350 |
| Barn Swallow (American) | 7 |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 2 |
| Carolina Wren (Northern) | 5 |
| European Starling | 5 |
| Gray Catbird | 2 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 3 |
| American Robin | 2 |
| American Goldfinch | 1 |
| Field Sparrow | 4 |
| Yellow-breasted Chat | 1 |
| Orchard Oriole | 2 |
| Red-winged Blackbird (Red-winged) | 82 |
| Common Yellowthroat (trichas Group) | 7 |
| American Redstart | 1 |
| Yellow Warbler (Northern) | 2 |
| Northern Cardinal | 8 |
| Blue Grosbeak | 1 |
| Indigo Bunting | 3 |
Common Yellowthroat photo by Kathy Horn
Orchard Oriole missing tail photo by Kathy Horn
