Field Ornithology 2021 - Day Five

Today, on the last day of this whirlwind course, I visited Sachuest Point Wildlife Refuge in Middletown, Rhode Island. I arrived around 7:30 and began to walk around, returning to my car at about 11:00 this morning. The weather was a bit chillier today, around 50˚ for most of the morning, partly cloudy and quite windy at first, which died down few hours into my outing. It started off really well when I came upon a White-tailed Deer standing on the path about ten yards in front of me! The mammal theme continued as I also spotted a rabbit and mouse in the grassy area. Getting back to birds, however, I have certainly noticed improvement in being able to distinguish what calls are coming from who, and my ears are getting a bit more trained in "ignoring" some of the more common birds that can make it hard to hear other species. I got to watch a few Common Eiders from the shoreline which was a first for me, and just as I was leaving a large Turkey Vulture flew overhead. I also heard a strange sound initially thought to be a Short-eared Owl, but it was likely a Red Fox! I didn't get quite as many solid observations as past days, but this was mostly because the wind made it difficult to record, and there were also more people than I was used to at previous sites, but it was still a successful day! Thank you Jim and Allan for the class!

Publicado el mayo 28, 2021 07:46 TARDE por bethanysmith512