Took my first trip to the Spit since late Spring, hoping to find a few shorebirds. Unfortunately there was a running event in the park mid morning so there were mobs of people on the main roads for awhile. The majority of shoreline and the ponds seemed mostly empty but I did find one good spot on the east shore, almost out to Pipit Point. I was able to sit quietly on a pile of rubble while swallows zoomed around my head and 11 very cute Least Sandpipers foraged amongst the concrete and rebar, sometimes coming quite close to me. There were also two mature Spotted Sandpipers with very clear spots in the same area, and one Juvenile Spotted a little further down the shore.
I stayed out of the woods but my complete list included:
11 Least Sandpiper
3 Spotted Sandpiper
1 Killdeer
10 Chimney Swift
12 Bank Swallow
8 Barn Swallow
5 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
3 Tree Swallow
5 Eastern Kingbird
2 Cedar Waxwing
1 Yellow Warbler
2 Warbling Vireo
1 Green Heron (triangle pond)
1 Great Blue Heron
3 Black-capped Night Heron
3 Belted Kingfisher
4 Egrets
8 Pied-billed Grebes
2 Common Merganser
2 Trumpeter Swan
20 Caspian Tern (the loudest bird on the spit)
1 Common Tern
Goldfinch, Cowbirds, RWB, Starlings, Mallards, Canada Geese (lots)
Cormorants (a bazillion flying back and forth between colony and lake)
And just for cuteness, 1 Mink and 1 Beaver.
-kris
