Blue Grosbeak, 2 males (TRIP NOTES and 2-day WWW8 SPECIES LIST below picture.)

It was a hot day and not breezy enough, but the absence of biting flies made up for that.

It was a slow day at Bombay Hook but one of the treats was a pair of Clapper Rails that was grooming in a shallow dip of watery mudflat and so we were able to watch them for a few minutes until they finished and disappeared again into the marsh grasses.

Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks were popping up all over but they do seem to have their favorite spots where they like to congregate. We were tickled to be able to get another look at a female Blue Grosbeak having just last year IDed our first one. Eastern Kingbirds were also frequent fliers and we saw Bluebirds. We stopped on the Boardwalk Trail and for a few minutes watched a flock of Tree Swallows swoop over our heads near a stand of dead trees. I think maybe there were more Swallows than there were holes in the trees and that's what might have been the cause of the commotion. We were close but they didn't seem to be bothered by us and after a time there was a group of five or six birders watching the fun.

We like to stop and scan the woods across from the entrance to the boardwalk trail because we usually count on migrant warblers and vireo type birds, but it was slow on Monday because the weather was too nice. We see more birds, I think, when it's windy because that keeps the birds a little lower in the trees, and I prefer an overcast day because the lack of reflection from the sun helps my old eyes see birds better. Oh well, that's birding.

There were lots of sandpipers and related shore-type birds, a few peeps. Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Yellowlegs were abundant on the mudflats after the tide went down, and we always count on low tide to give us a little better views of water/shore birds because we depend on binoculars only. We're awfully shaky on our Yellowleg IDs, but my daughter seems to be getting better at them than me, so maybe she can help me and my old eyes in the future.

Our biggest excitement/frustration came near the time we had to leave (this was the first time that we had a "must leave at" time while birding the Hook), and the source of this frustration was caused by two possible American Golden Plovers. We spent about 45 minutes debating these birds on the mudflats across from Bear Swamp at low tide. There were several flocks of Black-bellied Plovers, all were in breeding plumage, but these two birds weren't anywhere near the Black-bellied and were beginning to get blotchy (meaning they weren't in full plumage yet but appeared to be changing). After too much time of that ID mess I decided to flag down a car. Unfortunately for us, I flagged down the wrong car. Although wanting very much to help, the four occupants couldn't. Oh, well, I wrote the birds down on the list at the office as "possible". At some point I'll get around to pulling the handful of pictures I took of them together and some day, maybe years down the road, I'll get a confirm or deny, from an expert. Again, that's birding!

We saw the usual "yard"-type birds, Robin, Blue Jay, Crow, etc. Raptors were Osprey, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk and Turkey Vulture. My daughter thought she saw a Peregrine near the pond that's just to the left of the entrance to the Boardwalk trail, on the left where the bench is, because there's a good chance of seeing them there on a dead snag, but to her credit she corrected herself later, saying she was sure she made a mistake. Oh, we did see a female Yellow Warbler working on a nest and I snapped a picture of the nest (right next to Boardwalk Trail) while the warbler was gone. I peeked in, and no eggs yet. The only two small shore birds I was comfortable with IDing yesterday were Semi-palmated Plover and Semi-palmated Sandpiper. We did see a Great Crested Flycatcher and Eastern Wood Pewee in addition to Eastern Kingbirds but there was another flycatcher ID that eluded us. Heard a White-throated Vireo. No Kingfisher in his usual area, nor any Black-crowned Night Herons that we could find in their usual haunt on that island on the left. Saw a couple of Snowies but no large numbers of Egrets or Herons on trees or water, did see a Green Heron fly. Oh, saw Marsh Wren also - that's always a good bet on the Boardwalk Trail area for us. One lone Cormorant, a couple of Brown Thrashers courting in a grassy area near the road. Ducks were hard to come by and we chuckled over the fact that we were glad to see a couple of Mallards. We did see a pair of American Black Duck later on but other than that . . .

We also saw Muskrat and a Racoon. No sign of the Red Foxes this time around. Carp were spawing and roiling the water in a spillway. We also spotted a turtle a ways off. My guess is that it was a Diamondback Terrapin.

WWW8 two-day combined species total: 55

There are 57 birds on the list. At Parvin, Karen thought she saw at least one Cliff Swallow, but then wasn't sure after a period of watching and waiting for it to show itself again. We're also not sure of American Golden Plover. It's awfully rare on the East Coast.

Am. Crow
?Am. Golden Plover
Am. Robin
Bald Eagle
Baltimore Oriole
Barn Swallow
Black-bellied Plover
Black Duck
Black-necked Stilt
10 - Black Vulture
Bluebird
Blue Jay
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brown Thrasher
Canada Goose
Cardinal
Carolina Wren
Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
20 - Chipping Sparrow
Clapper Rail
?Cliff Swallow
Common Yellowthroat
Double-crested Cormorant
Dunlin
Eastern Kingbird
Fish Crow
Goldfinch
Grackle
30 - Great Blue Heron
Great Crested Flycatcher
Great Egret
Greater Yellowlegs
Green Heron
House Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Laughing Gull
Lesser Yellowlegs
Mallard
40 - Marsh Wren
Mockingbird
Mourning Dove
Mute Swan
Osprey
Pewee
Phoebe
Purple Martin
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-winged Blackbird
50 - Rock Dove
Semi-palmated Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Snowy Egret
Starling
Titmouse
Towhee
57 - Turkey Vulture