The plan was to hit Lighthouse Pool and Tower Pond when the tide was high in the bay to show Cyndi, who had been out of town for a week, the incredible avian show I encountered on Tuesday. Not quite. Lighthouse Pool was good, but had only a small fraction of the birds that were present on Tuesday; herons, egrets, and ibis were almost completely absent. Eleven Marbled Godwits and some close and identifiable, by plumage, Long-billed Dowitchers were highlights.
Elsewhere on the refuge -
East River Pool - dozens of herons and egrets on the far shore, a King Rail walking in the open adjacent to the boat launch. The water level is dropping, so things may be picking up here
Mounds 1 - two White-faced Ibis
App. Bay - Am. Flamingo on oyster bar with many Brown Pelicans
Tower Pond - two Pectoral Sandpipers, six Am. Avocets, three Reddish Egrets, and the usual suspects. Numbers were good, but not what I expected given the tide
Mounds 3, south end - Bl-w Teal, Gr-w Teal, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, N. Pintail, Redhead; nine White-faced and seven Glossy Ibis. Well worth walking the short distance beyond Tower Pond.
Totalled 64 species in 20 families with my usual no effort to find passerines.
Matt Johnstone