A morning only at Delaware's Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, a place I used to visit often in past years but less frequently in recent times. An adult Great Horned Owl was calling when I left the house. At Bombay Hook an hour and a half later, highlights were a Green Heron, several Great and Snowy Egrets, a few Blue Herons, a small flock of Glossy Ibises, a Double-crested Cormorant, a heard Clapper Rail; shorebirds included an Avocet, small flocks (c. 200) of Semipalmated Sandpipers, a couple of Western and White-rumped Sandpipers, some Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Plovers scattered throughout, and about a dozen Short-billed Dowitchers. Raptors included a Bald Eagle, an Osprey and a Northern Harrier. A few Forster's and Caspian Terns floated past. I saw small numbers of Canada Geese, Green-winged Teal and Mallards. Smaller birds included several Blue Grosbeaks, some Mourning Doves, a single female Bobolink, a (heard) Eastern Towhee, Mockingbird and Catbird (also mostly heard), a single Ruby-throated Hummingbird, several Common or used-to-be-known-as-Maryland Yellowthroats, many Red-winged Blackbirds, a few Tree Swallows, some Goldfinches, several Marsh Wrens and, seen nearby from the car but briefly and without bins, from shape and color, a possible but unconfirmed Sedge Wren--nowadays even more uncommon than they used to be.
Common Yellowthroat
Marsh Wren
Blue Grosbeak
Common Yellowthroat