July 8th 2007. Plum Island, MA.
Least Bittern. Ixobrychus exilis. (4+, at least 3 males and 1 female).
Susannah and I made the journey out to Plum Island primarily to look for Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows. We had a long morning on the headland seeing decent numbers of returning shorebirds, including Semi-palmated Sandpipers and a Dunlin. More unexpected were a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron, a Forster's Tern and really excellent prolonged looks at four Least Bitterns from the Hellcat end of the North Pool.
In the afternoon we headed north to coastal New Hampshire, the highlights being 8 Roseate Terns in Hampton Harbor and 25+ Wilson's Storm-Petrels off the north end of Foss Beach.
In the afternoon we headed north to coastal New Hampshire, the highlights being 8 Roseate Terns in Hampton Harbor and 25+ Wilson's Storm-Petrels off the north end of Foss Beach.
Images taken using Canon Powershot A540 through Swarovski HD Telescope.
Black-crowned Night Heron - adult on the saltmarsh near Hellcat Dike.
Forster's Tern - probable first-summer. Poor quality 'digi-bin' shot from boat launch west of Lot 1.
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow - at the boat launch near Lot 1.
Images of Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows from NH, 2005.>>
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