Sunday, 6 September 2009

Apponagansett Bay & Smith Neck Road, South Dartmouth, MA, USA, 06/09/2009

5:45pm. Weather: bright & sunny, cool; dusky.

The start of a two week holiday/vacation in New England where I hope to see some late summer migrants in the locations I'm set to visit. A nice walk to Apponagansett helped with the jetlag & as always there were a few nice species about.

Quayside:
American Herring Gull, Mallard, Great Black-Backed Gull, Ring-Billed Gull.

Knowles Reserve Saltmarsh:
Mourning Dove - perched on overhead wires at the edge of the marsh.
Green Heron - seen from afar it rose above the vegetation & quickly disappeared into it, but it had a distinctive small heron look & wing-shape so that I was later able to narrow down the species, which was also a life-tick.

Apponagansett Beach:
Osprey
- at fist I thought it was a gull but soon realised it was one of those late summer migrants I was hoping to see. It soared across the bay & then flew low over the water apparently dragging its feet in the water, before it later perched atop a boat's mast for a while. It was the first of many I saw on the holiday.

Path to Smith Neck Road:
Black-Capped Chickadee, Bluejay - as usual amongst the trees.
Savannah Sparrow - a small feeding party was picked up in some of the lower vegetation that ran alongside the path as it adjoined a horse's field. They were quite lively & afforded some decent views in the fading light especially as a couple perched on some cables overhead. However it took me a while to nail the ID from photos I had taken which showed a streaked breast & forked tail, rather bunting-like, but another life-tick at the start of the trip.

Smith Neck Road:
Northern Cardinal, American Robin - amongst the gardens along the road.

12 species, 2 new.

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