Sunset Birding at Stone Harbor Point - Tuesday, October 11th 2011

We started our "walk" by driving to nearby Nummy's Island to try and beat a fast rising tide.  We were partially successful and found lots of American Oystercatchers and a pair of American Avocets among the other shorebirds before the flats got covered by the tide.  This is only the second time in 20 years I've had avocets on a walk here. We went back to the parking lot and walked the dune path to the beach.  Highlights here were three Piping Plovers hiding from the wind, three Parasitic Jaegers chasing gulls offshore, nine fly-by Brown Pelicans, and great comparative looks at Caspian and Royal Terns as they fished for mullet close to us in the shallows.
49 species

Brant  120
American Black Duck  6
Mallard  12
Black Scoter  32
Double-crested Cormorant  400
Brown Pelican  9
Great Blue Heron  2
Great Egret  6
Snowy Egret  9
Little Blue Heron  1
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  3
Peregrine Falcon  1
Black-bellied Plover  27
Semipalmated Plover  1
Piping Plover  3
American Oystercatcher  160
American Avocet  2 at base of toll bridge on bay side
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Ruddy Turnstone  3
Red Knot  45
Sanderling  190
Dunlin  75
Short-billed Dowitcher  8
Laughing Gull  16
Ring-billed Gull  5
Herring Gull  X
Great Black-backed Gull  X
Caspian Tern  18
Common Tern  1
Royal Tern  8
Black Skimmer  1
Parasitic Jaeger  3
Mourning Dove  7
Eastern Phoebe  1
Brown Creeper  1
Golden-crowned Kinglet  2
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  2
Common Yellowthroat  2
Palm Warbler  3
Yellow-rumped Warbler  9
Savannah Sparrow  16
Song Sparrow  2
White-throated Sparrow  3
Red-winged Blackbird  30
Boat-tailed Grackle  2
House Finch  6
House Sparrow  X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)