Give that my plan was to do a post for each day, I think I have some catching up to do! The new posts will likely be shorter, since I think I would have to go to the West Coast or leave the country in order to again see seventeen new species of birds. The fact that I’m moving closer and closer to home territory of course also lowers the number of new species to be seen.
I did see some new species on Wednesday, though. Instead of walking the beaches, I headed inland a ways in the morning and walked some forest trail. I was just far enough south to have a chance at finding some birds that don’t make it up to Ithaca. And I did: Yellow-breasted Chat, Kentucky Warbler, and Prothonotary Warbler. I also heard a Summer Tanager, which I haven’t encountered since my childhood in Belize.
Around noon it started raining and so I headed about an hour north to a coastal wildlife refuge that has a wildlife drive. That way I could do my birdwatching from the car. And since there was pretty steady wind from the south, I could have the windows on the north side of the car open to allow for clear viewing. Here I added Black-bellied Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Gull-billed Terns. I was particularly pleased at finding the Black-bellied Plovers. They were a good deal more handsome and striking than I had imagined from looking at my bird guide. Their size helps them to be so striking; for comparison, they weigh about three times as much as robins. I could easily have missed them, since I think most of them migrate through in May.
So six new species for the day. Not bad at all, especially given how many of the potential new species I had already seen on Tuesday.
Sydney
Alan Schmierer