May Day/ Great Day

Honestly, I don't know how I have seen more than gulls and Robins this year when I go birding. Almost every week it rains or snows on at least one of my days off. Sometimes both days. If we get four days of clear weather you can be sure that fifth day when it rains will fall on my Friday off from work.

   But today is May 1. So despite the shitty weather this morning, if there was any clearing, I was going outside. Luckily, the rain ended about 9:30 am so I headed out and had a spectacular day.

   I started my day social distancing as far as I possibly could from people. I went to the mudflats at the Charlestown Breachway (you need a kayak or a willingness to walk 3 miles and cross a waist deep channel). Within an hour I got three new birds. I saw a Willet (very common), White Rumped Sandpiper (somewhat challenging bird to find), and adult Yellow Crowned Night Heron (usually pretty hard to get but their numbers seem to be increasing). I was happy. There was a lot of fog before it cleared up and I ended up missing a couple of easy birds that I am sure I will get. My friend Carlos went out as I was coming in. He found another good bird a Bonaparte Gull in an area I didn't go. This is a bird I have a tough time seeing so it bothered me a little that I missed it.

White Rumped Sandpiper

   Later on I followed my friend Jan to Mill Pond where I got to see and hear a Northern Parula. She went home for lunch and I went to Trustom. There I saw a Yellow Warbler and a House Wren. I had heard both species last week but didn't see them. These are both common birds, but nice to have back.
 
    The main bird I hoped to see at Trustom was a Cliff Swallow. I didn't see it, but while I was looking for it, I saw many Purple Martins mixed in with Tree and Barn Swallows.  Most surprisingly, I saw a Raven fly over. It would have been impossible to miss the spade shaped tail

   The last place I went was Great Swamp. While I was there I found an Eastern Kingbird. I also saw Glossy Ibis which never gets old. Back at the parking lot I had two other birds. A Broadwinged Hawk flew right over me. It was just gliding slowly in the light breeze. I got a great extended look at its underbelly and underwings. It was probably my favorite part of my day.
 

 As if that wasn't enough in the parking lot, there was also a Black and White Warbler. They are one of the most common warblers. However it was a first of the year bird for me, and they are really cool looking.

I've complained multiple times on this blog how it seems I'm just chasing reports when I go birding. It is even worse when you only have one day a week of nice weather. You don't have enough time to just explore. Chasing reports is almost like a business trip. Today was different, I took my time I went where I wanted and had my own plan. The only bird I "chased" was the Cliff Swallow but I spent a lot of time at Trustom looking for other birds too.

   The Eastern Kingbird and the White Rumped Sandpiper were both the first ones reported in RI this year. It was nice to find them instead of chase them. Today was probably the most fun I have had birding in months. I ended the day with ten new birds I'm counting and a couple I only heard but want to see. It is May, there will be over 80 new species to find over the next month. I'm excited about it. Let the games begin

Yellow Warbler