Birds Before Dinner - Friday, July 8th, 2016

The Meadows held a few surprises this evening. We were hoping to see the Common Gallinule that had been seen there sporadically for a few weeks and there it was, walking out of the grasses until it was in full view, looking especially large in the cloudy evening light. Then we noticed some rapid movement and fluttering, something feathered jumping up and down, flying back and forth crazily- and there was a young Virginia Rail, not all black and fluffy but not in adult plumage either. Virginia Rails, it turns out, eat mostly insects, crayfish and snails and this little guy was jumping up to catch bugs and chasing them across the mudflat. It eventually settled down for a bit of preening and we got Really.Good.Looks.  Leaders: Kathy & Roger Horn, Bert Hixon, BJ Pinnock, and Beth Freiday.
49 species

Canada Goose  45
Mute Swan  2
Gadwall  11
Mallard  25
Great Blue Heron  2
Great Egret  4
Snowy Egret  5
Green Heron  1
Glossy Ibis  14
Osprey  4
Virginia Rail  1
Common Gallinule  1
Killdeer  12
Spotted Sandpiper  3
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Least Sandpiper  6
Short-billed Dowitcher  16
Laughing Gull  75
Herring Gull (American)  8
Great Black-backed Gull  14
Caspian Tern  1
Common Tern  2
Forster's Tern  14
Black Skimmer  11
Mourning Dove  2
Chimney Swift  6
Eastern Kingbird  2
American Crow  2
Fish Crow  3
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  2
Purple Martin  7
Tree Swallow  3
Barn Swallow  7
Carolina Wren  2
American Robin  5
Gray Catbird  2
Northern Mockingbird  2
European Starling  1
Cedar Waxwing  5
Common Yellowthroat  11
Song Sparrow  3
Eastern Towhee  1
Northern Cardinal  4
Red-winged Blackbird  15
Common Grackle  18
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Orchard Oriole  1
American Goldfinch  2
House Sparrow  3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Common Gallinule [Photo by Roger Horn]

Juvenile Virginia Rail [Photo by Roger Horn]