Winter Big Day- A Good Day Birding

Today was the first day this year I spent the whole day birding. I keep track of my Rhode Island list on a website with other birders. since I barely had done any birding this year, I was in dead last on the list. The list is a way to keep track, it is not a competition. Still being in last place is embarrassing. I planned on leaving at sunrise. However, watching the Olympics until almost 11:30 meant I needed a couple hours more sleep.

At first, my day didn't start out very good. I had three target species ( Red Breasted Nuthatch, Yellow Rump, Red Headed  Woodpecker) at my first two stops ( Burlingame Campground, East Beach).  I barely saw a bird at those two spots nevermind my targets.

Things got better from there. I went to Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge. I took the walk to Grassy Point. I saw the Lesser Black Backed Gull that seems to winter there every year. I also saw some Horned Grebes and a Great Blue Heron.

Iceland Gull

I'm not going to bore you with every bird I saw today. I ended up seeing 54 species.  The highlights were

 Lesser Black Gull
Iceland Gull @Beavertail
Black Headed Gull @Scarborough Beach
 Trustom Pond- Pintail, Redheads, Lesser Scaup,  Gadwall, American Widgeon
Bluebird @ Fort Ninigret


My best experience was at Charlestown Breachway. I heard last week there was a Long Tailed Duck in the breachway. Some great pictures were taken. The only LT Ducks I've seen in Rhode Island were last week a quarter mile off of Beavertail.  I hoped it was still there. They are so pretty and I really wanted a frame filling picture. Happily there was a pair just chilling in the current. I stayed and watched them for a half hour. Also in the breachway were a few loons. One of them seemed to have no fear of me. It came pretty close to the rock I was sitting on. It was probably the closest I've been to a loon.

Long Tailed Duck

Another cool experience was the Iceland Gull at Beavertail. I knew it was there. The problem was, to me gulls just look the same. I did look up a picture of it someone took a few days ago. One thing I read, the wings are white. There isn't any black on the wing tips. Some people were throwing food out of their car. The gulls were fighting for the food. It was easy to find the Iceland as it was flying toward the scraps. It is smaller than the typical Herring and Ring Billed Gulls. It didn't get any food, but because the people were throwing out food, I got some close up pictures.

All in all, I had a really good day. Seeing 54 species was more than expected.  I got some good birds. Of course your always going to miss some easy birds. For instance, I didn't see any blue jays today.  That is one of the fun things about birding. You never know what you are going to see.

A couple more photos below