top of page

It's a wrap

Writer's picture: Barbara SeithBarbara Seith

Well I'm done birding for 2021 unless a Long-eared Owl decided to land on my porch loudly hooting. I had a good 2nd year with 285 birds in Rhode Island. That is 60 more birds than I had last year. I also added 68 birds to my Life List (not just Rhode Island) and ended up at 299.


I am so grateful that I stumbled into this community particularly for all the wonderful people I've met along the way. They are a helpful, fun (and funny), smart and generous band of folks, who will drop everything at a moments notice to drive 50+ miles to see a bird who happens to drop in from say Russia. Did I mention passionate - it is a thing of beauty. I consider them my tribe and I am honored to call myself a birder. Thank you all!


Next year I hope to include some travel to bird experiences, but my heart will still be in Rhode Island wondering what I am missing. More to come in another post of my favorite birding moments of the year.


One of the things I have learned from Sue Palmer is contribute to the community. This means try to find birds on your own - don't just chase birds others have seen. This has been invaluable. First because I learn a lot more about a bird when I find it myself and second it feels really good to help others find birds. I had a pretty good year for that. Much of it due to my residency at Quonnie Point, but there were other finds as well. Here are the most memorable:


January 12 - Dovekie in Charlestown Breachway. This is typically a pelagic bird and rarely spotted even from land. I can't take full credit because it had been reported nearby a few days earlier. I put the word out as soon as I identified it, but it disappeared before the birders descended -- and they did descend @10 cars within 15 minutes.


July 18 - Least Bittern at Mud Pond. I kept hearing this guy, but couldn't see him -- finally got an atmospheric photo in the grass. He stayed for awhile and most other birders saw him eventually.


August 25 - Tricolored Heron at Quonnie Point. While was scrolling on my phone and thinking about leaving, my new birder friend Maria Mainelli Bloom said "Wow, what's that". I looked up to see this bird about 15 feet away from us. I said I think that's a Tricolored Heron. Grabbed my camera, took a bunch of shots and ran it through Merlin. Then got the word out. So proud of Maria - getting her first rare bird find and happy it stuck around so lots of other birders got to see it.


September 1 - Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Quonnie Point. I was there with Maria & Peter Fish. I looked up and saw a Sandpiper I'd never seen before. I said I think its a Buff-breasted, grabbed my camera and it was gone. Peter had already taken a few shots. I got the word out, but only the three of us saw it.


September 12 - American Golden Plover at Heaton Orchard. I wasn't the first person to see an AGPL this year, but I did spot the biggest group - there were six of them and they were close. I put the word out and lots of other birders arrived. After I left the flock grew to 11. I had previously only seen one at a great distance - spectacular!


November 13 - Long-billed Dowitcher at Quonnie Point. We usually get a few of these each season. This year we only had one -- the one I spotted during an event organized by Sam Miller to look for rarities in November. I wasn't going to troop around, so I volunteered to sit at Quonnie Point and the bird came to me. It is never easy to distinguish a Short-billed from a Long-billed. Long-billed are quite unusual there because they typically prefer fresh water and Quonnie is brackish. I called Sue & Tim to come and see if I was correct and thankfully I was. A few other were able to see it in the next few days, but it was pretty elusive. I now know how to distinguish them. I should mentioned that the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (a never before seen in RI bird) was discovered about 30 minutes later.


December 13 - Ross's Goose at Weekapaug Breachway Pond. I was at the end of a Westerly birding morning and I saw these small white birds amongst the Canada Geese in the pond. It is an awkward place to stop, but it was a slow traffic day -- I snapped a few photos at an awkward angle and turned around for more. At this point I was pretty sure I had something special. I sent a couple of photos to Sue & Tim -- Tim responded quickly that they looked like Ross's which hadn't been reported in RI since 2018. Unfortunately when I returned to look again (5 minutes later, they were gone - not to be seen again). I have a photo with 5 Ross's Geese, a Blue Morph Snow Goose & a Greater White-Fronted Goose. Oh yeah and a Canada Goose too. I will be hard to top this as a bird moment!


1 view0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


@2019 Barbara Seith Unlimited

Visitors:
bottom of page