Day 18.224: Saturday birding

Our nature group had a morning outing - mostly focused on birds in the Hills Beach area. We walked from the parking area to visit the Park in the Pines and then continued further down Hills Beach Road to get a view out into the bay.

Near the parking:

Cedar waxwing

Great egret and herring gulls on the beach side

At Park in the Pines:

Semipalmated plover

Willets

Black-bellied plovers

Double-crested cormorants

American goldfinch

Young Cooper's hawk

Short-billed dowitchers

Short-billed dowitcher

Size comparisons: semipalmated sandpipers (left and right), semipalmated plover center, two black-bellied plovers

Whimbrels (distant)

Whimbrels (in flight)

Semipalmated sandpipers

Semipalmated sandpiper

At the bay overlook:

Common tern

American oystercatchers

Great blue heron

Laughing gull

Semipalmated plovers

Walking back:

White-breasted nuthatch. This bird was incredibly close to us and stayed still for a long time. It may have been spooked by...

...young Cooper's hawk. There were two birds hunting (fairly inexpertly) along the road (maybe siblings from this year's breeding season)